/  V 


I 


tiKi  OF 

l*  NOV  9  1923  *\ 

'x'^P/s.  ‘  “T*  *  '  ■■—  ■  / 


—  _  \ 

BR  125  .T63 

Todd,  Elbert  S. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/kingdomofheavenOOtodd 


THE  KINGDOM 
OF  HEAVEN 


BY  y 


/A’ 

/  V 


ELBERT  S.  TODD 


tteHSiaebcgfera 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


oo 


Copyright,  1923  by 
ELBERT  S.  TODD 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface .  5 

I.  Foregleams .  9 

II.  A  Fitting  Name . .  15 

III.  Nature  of  the  Kingdom .  23 

IV.  Freedom .  32 

i 

V.  Altruism .  41 

VI.  Servant  of  All .  46 

VII.  The  Stone  That  Grew  as  It 

Rolled .  52 

VIII.  Emmanuel — God  With  Us .  62 

IX.  Seeking  the  Living  Among  the 

Dead .  68 

X.  Citizens  by  Birth .  78 

XI.  Citizens  by  Naturalization.  . .  85 

XII.  Citizens  at  Large .  95 

XIII.  Wherefore  a  Kingdom? .  103 

XIV.  Methods  of  the  Kingdom  ....  110 

XV.  Human  Organizations  and  the 

Heavenly  Kingdom .  118 

XVI.  The  Kingdom  and  the  King¬ 
doms .  126 

XVII.  Was  Jesus  Mistaken? .  132 

XVIII.  The  Kingdom  Triumphant.  . . .  145 


PREFACE 


The  reader  may  notice  that  in  these 
pages  reference  is  made  almost  exclusively 
to  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  The  writer 
was  not  unaware  of  what  learned  rabbis 
had  written  on  this  theme  before  the 
Christian  era,  or  of  the  frequent  references 
to  the  subject  in  the  Acts  and  Epistles, 
the  Apocalypse  and  the  early  church 
fathers.  With  the  latter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  was  incidental  and  the  teaching 
fragmentary;  with  Jesus  it  was  a  major 
theme.  No  further  apology  seems  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  adoption  of  the  motto, 

“I  prefer,"  if  you  please,  for  my  expounder 
Of  the  laws  of  the  Feast,  the  Feast’s  own  Founder.” 

The  Scriptures  are  given  by  inspiration 
of  God,  but  are  not  therefore  equally 
important  or  decisive  on  a  point  in  ques¬ 
tion.  The  words  of  Jesus  seem  to  be  in 
a  class  by  themselves.  The  four  Gospels 
are  four  judges  on  the  bench  of  a  supreme 
court  from  whose  decision  there  is  no 

5 


6  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


appeal.  As  we  read  what  others  have 
written  and  then  turn  to  the  Gospels, 
we  seem  to  be  in  the  harvest  field  in 
Canaan  where  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob 
wrought,  and  to  see  the  sheaves  of  rabbi, 
saint,  and  early  Christian,  arise,  stand 
round,  and  do  obeisance  to  the  four 
Gospel  sheaves.  As  we  read  that  “Jesus 
opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them,  say¬ 
ing,”  we  are  eating  fruit  just  plucked 
from  the  tree  before  it  passed  through 
the  hands  of  the  middlemen,  and  expe¬ 
rience  the  satisfaction  that  we  remember 
to  have  had  after  climbing  the  steep 
ascent  and  drinking  of  the  rivulet  where 
it  burst  from  the  rocks  before  it  could 
possibly  have  been  in  contact  with  iron 
pipes,  conduits,  or  weed-cumbered  reser¬ 
voirs. 

Nothing  was  further  from  the  writer’s 
thought  than  to  indulge  in  criticism  that 
could  be  construed  as  destructive.  One 
often  finds  a  sidewalk  cumbered  by  sand, 
lime,  and  litter  where  he  can  only  learn 
by  inquiry  if  it  is  the  debris  of  those  who 
tear  down  or  the  materials  of  those  who 
build  up.  The  former  process  often  goes 


PREFACE 


7 


hand  in  hand  with  the  latter,  as  may  be 
seen  in  cities  of  southern  Europe,  where 
workmen  may  be  seen  tearing  away  the 
stucco  from  the  fagade  of  buildings  erected 
in  the  days  of  the  “elder  art”  in  order 
to  uncover  the  priceless  work  of  master 
sculptors,  which  a  taste  for  the  baroque 
in  modern  art  had  caused  to  be  plastered 
over.  Without  careful  inquiry  in  this 
matter,  the  author  has  made  use  of  his 
freedom  in  the  gospel  to  write  that  which 
he  has  found  both  true  and  exceedingly 
precious. 


CHAPTER  I 


FOREGLEAMS 

“0  brother  mine,  0  beautiful  brother,  0  brother 
of  love,  build  me  a  castle  which  shall  have  neither 
stone  nor  iron;  0  beautiful  brother,  build  me  a 
city  which  shall  have  neither  wood  nor  stone.” 
— Beato  Egidio. 

First  Elias,  then  Messias — thus  ran  the 
age-long  prophecy.  First  one  who  gathers 
stones  out  of  the  straightened  highway, 
levels  the  valleys,  and  brings  down  the 
hills,  then  the  King,  the  glowing  orb  of 
day,  preceded  by  his  avant  courier ,  the 
morning  star.  In  the  fullness  of  time, 
not  one  hour  too  late  or  early,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan,  Elias  appeared.  He 
was  a  young  man  with  a  vision.  The 
vision,  and  the  message  which  accom¬ 
panied  it,  made  of  his  soul  an  overflowing 
fountain  and  of  his  voice  a  trumpet 
whose  tones  reached  the  farthest  of  the 
crowd  of  turbaned  scribes,  white-robed 
Pharisees,  mailed  soldiers,  effeminate 
princelings  and  the  rabble  of  all  Jewry. 

9 


10  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


“Get  ready,”  was  his  message,  “for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  coming.”  His 
career  was  brief  but  worthy  of  One  more 
than  prophet  and  greatest  born  of  woman. 
It  virtually  ended  on  the  day  when, 
recognizing  one  who  came  to  his  preach¬ 
ing,  he  cut  short  his  swift-flowing  words 
and,  pointing  to  the  dust-stained  sandals 
of  the  Stranger,  said:  “This  is  he  of  whom 
I  spoke,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to 
unloose.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  has 
come.  This  is  the  King.  He  must  in¬ 
crease,  but  I  must  decrease.” 

The  fickle  crowd,  accepting  the  sugges¬ 
tion,  turned  to  the  Newcomer  desiring  to 
be  shown  the  new  Kingdom.  Would  he 
restore  the  Kingdom  of  Israel?  Could  he 
by  divine  interposition  be  placed  on  the 
throne  of  the  far-flung  Roman  Empire 
and  become  the  master  of  the  world  in 
a  day?  Perhaps  a  new  kingdom  had 
been  secretly  set  up  among  the  nations, 
as  astronomers  assert  that  a  new  star 
now  and  then  appears  in  the  heavens. 
Where,  then,  was  the  capital,  and  were 
buildings  already  erected  of  proportions 
commensurate  with  the  dignity  of  the 


FOREGLEAMS 


11 


new  kingdom?  Had  ministers  of  state, 
judges,  and  treasurers  been  already  ap¬ 
pointed?  Were  there  an  army  and  a  navy 
and  a  standard  already  inscribed  with  a 
fitting  device? 

They  had  yet  to  learn  that  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  cometh  not  by  observation. 
The  Queen  of  Sheba  readily  found  the 
capital  of  Solomon’s  empire,  but  the  cap¬ 
ital  of  this  kingdom  none  could  find. 
Should  new  Magi  from  the  East  come 
westward  with  tribute  for  the  new  mon¬ 
arch,  they  must  return  to  report  that 
they  found  no  trace  of  king  or  kingdom. 
Should  they  persevere  and  search  the 
world  over,  they  must  at  the  end  find 
what  Pompey,  the  Roman  general,  found 
when  entering  the  temple  at  Jerusalem 
and  insisting  on  going  into  the  Holy  of 
holies,  he  found  in  amazement  —  noth - 
ing. 

The  perplexed  people  had  not  long  to 
wait.  Fresh  from  his  fasting  and  tempta¬ 
tion  in  the  desert,  the  Messiah  appeared 
and  issued  his  first  proclamation,  “Re¬ 
pent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has 
come.”  It  was  not  a  prophecy  but  the 


12  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


plain  statement  of  a  fact.  Though  it 
might  not  number  a  single  subject,  the 
kingdom  had  come ,  was  fully  established 
and  functioning.  To  questions  about  it, 
topographical  or  chronological,  his  ready 
answer  was,  “The  kingdom  is  now  in  this 
place,  even  within  some  of  you.” 

Yet  the  people  must  not  infer,  because 
it  was  not  manifest  to  the  sight  or  hear¬ 
ing,  therefore  it  was  something  unreal 
that  would  vanish  as  it  came,  like  a  dream 
or  a  mirage  in  the  desert.  The  Kingdom 
on  the  other  hand  was  the  most  real 
thing  in  the  world.  It  was  so  precisely 
because  it  could  not  be  seen,  for  it  is 
ever  the  thing  that  is  seen  that  is  tem¬ 
poral  and  the  thing  that  is  unseen  that  is 
eternal.  It  was  a  reality  in  a  world  of 
phantoms.  It  was  more  real  than  the 
rock  of  Gibraltar,  the  pyramids,  or  the 
fixed  stars.  In  contrast  with  earthly 
kingdoms,  it  was  actual  and  they  eva¬ 
nescent.  The  sea  of  the  nations  had 
often  been  lifted  up  by  a  proud  wave 
called  Babylon,  Carthage,  or  Tyre,  but, 
like  a  wave,  each  sank  back  into  the 
deep.  They  passed  away  so  completely 


FOREGLEAMS 


13 


as  to  suggest  shadow  rather  than  sub¬ 
stance.  The  kingdom  of  heaven,  in  con¬ 
trast,  was  in  process  of  preparation  be¬ 
fore  the  foundations  of  the  world  and 
must  endure, 

“When  the  moon  is  dead  and  the  stars  are  cold 

And  the  leaves  of  the  Judgment  Book  unfold.” 

No  future  Volney  shall  sit  among  the 
ruins  of  this  Kingdom  and  lament  its 
fall. 

Nor  must  the  people  think  because  the 
Kingdom  was  unseen,  therefore  it  was 
undefined,  without  boundary  lines  or  land¬ 
marks,  like  mist  or  the  shades  of  evening. 
Its  boundaries,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
more  sharply  drawn  than  between  earthly 
kingdoms.  This  side  the  line  was  the 
Kingdom,  that  side  “the  world,”  or  “with¬ 
out,”  or  “darkness.”  Two  women  shall 
be  grinding  at  the  same  handmill,  the 
invisible  boundary  line  runs  between  them; 
two  men  shall  be  working  side  by  side 
in  the  field,  one  within  and  one  without 
the  Kingdom.  Here  was  no  need  of  a 
law  against  the  removal  of  boundary 
stones,  for  they  were  part  of  the  consti- 


14  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


tution  and  foundation  of  all  things.  He 
who  would  know  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  must  dismiss  all  thought  that 
he  is  dealing  with  mere  figures  of  speech. 
He  is  confronted  with  a  fact. 


CHAPTER  II 
A  FITTING  NAME 

“And  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  crea¬ 
ture,  that  was  the  name  thereof.” 

It  is  difficult  to  express  in  exact  form 
a  living  and  universal  reality.  Religion, 
for  instance,  is  hard  to  define.  We  know 
it  is  a  fact  and  realize  its  power  but 
stumble  as  we  attempt  to  put  it  into 
words.  The  difficulty  is  that  words  must 
be  used  that  express  the  relations  of 
material  things,  but  fail  when  we  use 
them  to  speak  of  the  things  of  the  spirit. 
The  first  sacred  writers  and  teachers  were 
artists  who,  with  exquisite  subjects  in 
mind,  had  only  charcoal  and  lime  for 
pigment  and  a  bundle  of  rushes  for  a  brush. 
Jesus  called  attention  to  the  Kingdom,  but 
could  not  supply  words  to  adequately 
express  its  nature  and  meaning.  He 
could  only  use  such  words  as  were,  and 
gradually  adapt  them  to  a  new  meaning. 
Hence  the  argument  most  frequently  on 
his  lips  was  “It  is  like.”  By  what  word 
or  words  should  the  new  world-scheme  be 

15 


16  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

known  among  men?  It  must  cover  the 
relation  that  he  sustained  to  them  as 
Lord  and  they  to  him  as  followers,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  new  relations  they  sus¬ 
tained  to  each  other  on  account  of  their 
relation  to  him  and  the  relation  that  as 
a  whole  they  sustained  to  the  world  at 
large.  One  conception  alone  sufficed,  and 
that  he  adopted.  One  set  of  words  from 
all  possible  words  he  deliberately  chose  to 
express  this  relation,  to  wit:  The  kingdom 
of  heaven.  No  religious  teacher  ever  kept 
so  steadily  in  mind  one  conception  and 
embodied  it  so  uniformly  in  one  set  of 
words  as  did  Jesus  in  the  use  of  the  “king¬ 
dom  of  heaven.”  It  is  needful  that  we 
realize  this,  and  a  brief  review  of  his  life 
shows  its  truth. 

Jesus  began  his  work  by  announcing 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  sent  forth 
the  twelve  to  spread  the  news  of  the 
Kingdom  and  afterward  the  seventy, 
putting  into  their  mouths  the  same  mes¬ 
sage.  When  Nicodemus  came  to  him  by 
night  he  was  told  of  a  kingdom  which 
in  his  present  condition  he  could  not 
even  see.  When  little  children  were 


A  FITTING  NAME 


17 


brought  to  him,  they  and  the  attendants 
were  told  of  a  kingdom  to  which  the 
children  already  belonged.  When  priests 
and  elders  came  to  confuse  him  with 
questions,  he  told  them  of  a  kingdom  that 
publicans  and  harlots  were  entering  be¬ 
fore  them.  In  a  time  of  hesitation  and 
danger  he  encouraged  the  timid  saying, 
“Fear  not,  little  flock;  it  is  your  Father’s 
good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom.” 
The  carping  scribes  were  told  that  they 
were  shutting  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
against  men.  A  young  man  who  would 
follow  him,  but  must  first  bury  his  father, 
was  counseled  to  rather  go  and  publish 
abroad  the  Kingdom;  one  who  would  first 
bid  good-by  to  his  friends  was  assured 
that  he  was  not  fit  for  the  Kingdom. 
When  they  charged  Jesus  with  casting 
out  devils  by  Beelzebub,  he  replied  that 
if  devils  were  cast  out,  it  proved  that 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  had  come.  He 
admonished  them  that  it  was  better  to 
enter  the  Kingdom  with  one  eye  and  one 
foot,  than  not  to  enter  at  all. 

Those  who  taught  and  lived  his  say¬ 
ings  should  be  great  in  the  kingdom  of 


18  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


heaven,  and  those  who  passed  them  by, 
the  least.  Some  were  eunuchs  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven’s  sake  and  some  shone 
forth  like  the  sun  in  the  Kingdom.  They 
were  told  that  they  must  have  a  rights 
eousness  greater  than  that  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  or  they  could  never  enter 
the  Kingdom,  and  that  the  Kingdom 
should  be  taken  from  them  and  given  to 
the  Gentiles.  “Not  every  one,”  he  said, 
“who  saith.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 

In  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  the  second  peti¬ 
tion  is  for  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  the  note  of  praise  at  the  close  is  for 
the  Kingdom.  The  first  of  the  beatitudes 
mentions  the  Kingdom,  as  does  also  the 
last.  It  is  the  text  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  with  its  three  long  chapters  and 
one  hundred  and  ten  verses.  As  to  the 
parables,  the  sower  and  the  seed,  the 
mustard  seed,  the  treasure  in  the  field, 
the  leaven  in  the  meal,  the  pearl  of  great 
price,  the  fishermen  and  the  net,  the 
marriage  feast,  the  withered  fig-tree  and 
the  wicked  husbandmen,  they  are  par¬ 
ables  of  the  Kingdom. 


A  FITTING  NAME 


19 


The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  theme 
of  the  story  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  the 
wise  and  foolish  builders,  the  new  cloth 
and  old  garment,  the  unmerciful  servant, 
the  laborers  in  the  vineyard,  the  two 
sons,  the  wise  and  foolish  virgins,  the 
talents,  the  strong  man  armed,  the  candle 
and  the  bushel,  the  creditor  and  debtor, 
the  good  Samaritan,  the  importunate 
friend  and  the  tower-builder.  To  the 
same  end  Jesus  told  of  the  lost  sheep1 
and  the  lost  coin,  the  Pharisee  and  pub¬ 
lican  and  the  prodigal  son. 

In  volume  the  teaching  of  Jesus  con¬ 
cerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater 
than  concerning  all  other  subjects  com¬ 
bined.  It  has  been  observed  that  were 
the  Gospels  bound  by  themselves,  an 
appropriate  title  might  be  “The  Teach¬ 
ing  of  Jesus  Concerning  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.”  As  the  end  of  his  ministry 
drew  near,  Jesus  continued  steadfastly  in 
the  same  doctrine.  At  the  triumphal 
entrance  the  humble  peasants  hailed  him 
as  King  and  without  rebuke.  On  the 
night  of  his  betrayal,  when  closeted  with 
his  disciples,  he  reminded  them  of  the 


20  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


Kingdom.  Before  Pilate  lie  made  frank 
confession  of  this  kingdom  and  kingship. 
On  the  cross  he  heard  and  made  prompt 
response  to  the  knock  at  the  door  of  the 
Kingdom  of  a  penitent  who  would  enter. 
The  assertion  of  Jesus  that  he  was  King 
of  a  real  kingdom  was  the  basis  of  his 
condemnation  by  both  Jew  and  Roman, 
and  for  that  he  was  crucified.  Beyond 
that,  in  the  interval  between  the  resur¬ 
rection  and  ascension,  we  learn  that  his 
blessed  employment  was  4  "teaching  them 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  God.” 

If  Jesus  thus  set  his  kingdom  to  the 
forefront  and  with  his  dying  words  com¬ 
mended  it  to  the  world,  it  becomes  Chris¬ 
tians  everywhere  to  earnestly  inquire 
what  part  he  would  have  it  take  in  the 
life  of  to-day.  A  partial  answer  to  this 
question  is  obtained  when  we  discover  the 
true  nature  of  this  Kingdom,  for  every 
kingdom,  as  every  man,  has  a  character, 
a  heart  of  hearts,  that  which  it  truly  is 
in  distinction  from  what  it  possesses  or 
does.  In  its  contact  with  the  world  a 
nation  leaves  its  distinctive  mark  as 
plainly  as  a  lion  his  tracks  in  the  sand; 


A  FITTING  NAME 


21 


as  a  robber  bis  thumb-print  on  the  door¬ 
jamb.  Moreover,  a  nation  has  a  soul 
and  may  lose  it  and  be  known,  as  is  the 
eighteenth  century,  as  “ ce  siecle  sans 
ante  ”  “The  glory  that  was  Greece  and 
the  grandeur  that  was  Rome,”  wrote 
Poe  of  two  colossal  empires  of  the  past. 
Each  had  many  things,  including  vast 
territory  and  piled-up  wealth,  and  each 
by  deeds  had  written  its  name  large  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  but  one  was 
that  will-o5-the  wisp  called  glory,  and  the 
other  was  at  the  last  analysis  that  “vault¬ 
ing  pride  which  overleaps  itself,”  called 
grandeur. 

Our  question  is.  What  is  the  real  nature 
of  this  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  what 
may  we  conclude  it  will  do  for  the  world? 
We  are  fortunate  in  the  possession  of 
abundant  material  for  this  study.  We 
have  the  teaching  of  Jesus  concerning 
the  Kingdom  during  three  years;  in  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  in  a  nursery,  by 
the  wayside,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan 
and  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  in  a  court  of 
justice,  on  the  mount  and  on  the  cross; 
to  one,  to  a  group,  to  a  select  company,  to 


22  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


a  mixed  multitude.  He  taught  by  a 
prayer,  in  a  chapter  of  blessings,  in  quaint 
stories,  in  parables  piled  one  upon  an¬ 
other,  and  in  formal  discourse.  We  have 
also  the  history  of  the  world  in  its  con¬ 
tact  with  this  kingdom  through  many 
centuries.  Besides  this,  not  a  few  know 
something  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as 
an  experience  of  the  heart. 


CHAPTER  III 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM 

“To-night  we’ll  wander  through  the  streets  and  note 
The  qualities  of  people.” — Shakespeare. 

To  know  a  man  one  must  live  with 
him.  It  is  even  more  true  that  to  know 
a  country  one  must  become  a  citizen. 
Still,  if  one  is  a  keen  observer,  he  may 
gain  a  superficial  knowledge  by  even  a 
brief  visit.  Such  is  all  we  may  expect 
to  do  as,  with  Baedeker  in  hand,  we 
ramble  among  the  parables  of  the  King¬ 
dom,  so  fathomless  in  depth,  unmeasur¬ 
able  in  height,  comparable  to  the  loftiest 
mountains,  the  deepest  seas,  and  the 
most  venerable  monumental  ruins. 

The  first  impression  one  is  likely  to 
gain  is  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
heart  ethical.  It  is  a  kingdom  with  a 
conscience.  The  scepter  is  a  scepter  of 
righteousness  and  the  throne  is  a  throne 
of  judgment.  It  differs  from  kingdoms 
that  are  unethical  as  from  those  that  are 
nonethical.  It  believes  in  justice  and  con- 

23 


24  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


sideration  for  the  feeble  and  the  stranger. 
It  does  not  ignore  or  belittle  the  fact  that 
evil  exists,  evil  that  is  man-made,  that  is 
unlovely  in  character,  injurious  to  its 
author  and  the  world,  an  outlaw  danger¬ 
ous  to  the  community,  a  meteor  whose 
movements  are  not  adjusted  to  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  the  universe  and  is  destined  sooner 
or  later  to  burn  itself  up  or  wreck  a  world. 
According  to  its  laws,  evil  is  not  the 
absence  of  good,  or  good  in  the  making. 
Between  the  two,  as  to  character  and 
destiny,  there  stretches  “the  unbridged 
and  fathomless  gulf  that  yearned  be¬ 
tween  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus.”  The 
right  shall  be  the  right  and  other  than 

i 

the  wrong  while  He  endures.  In  the  ensu¬ 
ing  world- wide  and  age-long  war,  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  is  no  slacker  nor  neutral, 
but  a  partisan  avowed  and  outspoken. 
It  believes  in  law  and  recognizes  the 
inevitableness  of  penalty  for  the  trans¬ 
gressor.  The  unmerciful  debtor  is  deliv¬ 
ered  to  the  tormentors,  the  sleeping  virgins 
are  shut  out  from  the  marriage  feast, 
the  wicked  husbandmen  are  destroyed  and 
their  city  burned.  Yet  with  this  love  of 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  25 


righteousness  is  cherished  profoundest  pity 
for  the  unrighteous.  Nowhere  are  doors 
so  wide  open  and  welcome  so  sincere,  and 
love  so  boundless  or  such  joy  on  earth  or 
among  the  angels,  as  at  the  return  of 
the  penitent  prodigal.  Nowhere  do  old 
sins  get  themselves  buried  so  deeply  and 
forgotten  so  utterly.  Even  God  forgets. 
It  is  the  wrath  of  a  great  righteousness 
which  must  condemn,  which  meets  with 
a  greater  love  that  must  save.  Earthly 
kingdoms  have  at  times  been  terribly 
just  without  an  atom  of  mercy;  at  other 
times  they  have  been  bountiful  in  mercy 
at  the  expense  of  justice.  In  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  alone  they  know  to  decree  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  law  on  the  peni¬ 
tent  wrongdoer  bating  no  jot  or  tittle  and 
at  the  same  time  granting  him  an  abun¬ 
dant  pardon.  The  King  alone  knows  how 
this  is.  Apart  from  that 4 ‘Be  not  deceived : 
neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor 
adulterers,  nor  effeminate,  nor  abusers  of 
themselves  with  mankind,  nor  thieves,  nor 
covetous,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God.” 

A  characteristic  of  the  kingdom  of 


26  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


heaven  which  even  a  careless  observer 
cannot  but  notice,  has  led  to  its  being 
called  the  “Sunshine  Kingdom.”  It  fore¬ 
tells  by  its  manner  in  coming  among  men 
that  it  brings  gospel  as  Ahimaaz,  the 
messenger  to  King  David,  revealed  when 
far  off,  by  his  manner  of  running,  that  it 
was  good  tidings  that  he  brought.  It  is 
the  Kingdom  of  hope  and  good  cheer. 
It  believes  in  God  and  man  and  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  truth.  Its  innermost 
spirit  is  unbounded  optimism.  For  the 
cynic’s  sneer  it  has  as  little  fear  or  use 
as  for  the  pessimist’s  moan.  Jesus,  the 
splendid  optimist,  who  saw  a  sunrise  glow 
on  the  coming  years  because  he  had  the 
power  and  the  purpose  to  actualize  it, 
fills  the  Kingdom,  and  in  a  measure  the 
world,  with  his  hopeful  spirit.  The  things 
to  which  he  likened  his  kingdom  were,  in 
the  main,  joyful  and  cheerful — the  waving 
grain,  the  diver,  emerging  from  the  brine 
with  the  pearl  of  great  price,  the  peasant 
happy  in  the  discovery  of  a  treasure  in 
the  field,  the  shepherd  rejoicing  over  his 
sheep  that  was  lost,  the  marriage  feast, 
the  home-coming  of  one  long  absent. 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  27 


Already  his  parable  of  the  mustard  seed 
which  became  a  tree  so  firmly  rooted  and 
with  such  wide-spreading  branches  that 
the  birds  knew  it  as  a  refuge  from  the 
storm  and  the  heat,  has  fulfilled  itself 
among  the  nations  which,  in  despair  at 
what  seemed  the  breaking  of  civilization, 
turned  to  his  kingdom  for  hope  and  cheer. 
The  nations  were  the  three  hundred  and 
seventy-six  souls  on  the  corn-ship  of 
Alexandria  in  mid-Mediterranean  at  the 
hour  when  all  hope  that  they  should  be 
saved  was  taken  away,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  was  Paul  standing  on  the  deck  of 
the  water-logged  and  sinking  vessel  say¬ 
ing,  “Be  of  good  cheer,  for  there  shall  be 
no  loss  of  any  man’s  life,  but  of  the  ship.” 
This  rainbow-tinted  hope  for  the  world 
is  a  reflection  of  the  good  cheer  brought 
into  individual  lives  as  the  green  expanse 
of  the  forest  is  the  greenness  of  a  vast 
number  of  individual  trees.  From  the 
first  Jesus  taught  that  his  Father  was 
light  and  in  him  was  no  darkness  at  all. 
He  loved  happiness  and  loved  to  see  it 
among  men.  It  followed  that  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  must  be  the  head  center 


28  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


of  human  felicity,  and  such  it  was. 
“Happy,”  he  said,  “are  the  poor  in  spirit, 
happy  they  who  mourn,  happy  the  meek, 
they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  right¬ 
eousness,  the  merciful,  the  pure  in  heart, 
the  peacemakers,  the  persecuted  for  right¬ 
eousness’  sake,  happy  all  the  children  of 
the  Kingdom.”  There  are  expressions  in 
use  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  found  no¬ 
where  else.  The  words  “joy,”  “peace,” 
and  “rest”  are  used  by  all  classes  of 
people,  but  largely  with  reference  to 
something  as  yet  unattained.  They  are 
spoken  hesitatingly  as  though  they  applied 
to  nothing  real  in  life.  In  connection  with 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  they  speak  not 
only  of  joy,  but  of  “joy  that  is  full,” 
“exceeding  great  joy,”  “everlasting  joy,” 
“joy  that  is  unspeakable.”  Not  with 
hesitation,  but  triumphantly  as  of  some¬ 
thing  present  and  attainable,  they  speak 
of  peace,  “great  peace,”  “abundance  of 
peace,”  “peace  like  a  river,”  “peace  that 
no  man  taketh  away.”  The  mines  where 
the  gem  called  joy  is  obtained  are  largely 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  the  pearl  of  great 
price  is  taken  from  the  water  of  its  rivers. 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  29 


The  world  wishes  to  be  happy  but  does 
not  know  how.  It  cherishes  traditions  of 
Utopia  and  Paradise,  but  the  paths  thither 
have  been  lost.  Multitudes  linger  about 
old  wells  that  it  is  said  once  furnished 
living  waters,  but  the  wells  have  gone  dry 
or  been  filled  up.  The  world  is  richer 
than  it  once  was,  but,  as  was  the  case 
with  Solomon,  for  some  reason  cannot 
eat  thereof.  It  has  discovered  in  a  measure 
the  laws  of  the  transmutation  of  species 
and  can  transmute  power  from  one  depart¬ 
ment  of  nature  to  another.  It  has  yet 
to  discover  how  to  transmute  earthly 
good  into  happiness.  Yet  it  is  not  dis¬ 
couraged  and  really  believes  that  if  it 
has  not  succeeded,  no  one  else  has  done 
any  better.  At  times  it  plucks  up  courage 
and  shouts, 

“Hence,  loathed  melancholy, 

Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  midnight  born.” 

Melancholy  is  too  jaundiced  a  ghoul  to 
listen,  and  Cerberus  too  bad  and  fierce  a 
dog  to  be  frightened.  They  do  not  budge. 
At  times  they  plead. 


30  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


“Haste  thee,  nymph,  and  bring  with,  thee 
Jest  and  youthful  jollity.” 

The  nymphs  were  ever  fickle  and  mood- 
ish.  They  do  not  listen  or  heed.  The 
world  does  not  even  pretend  to  find  the 
bliss  for  which  it  sighs.  Yet  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  was  charged  in  the  first  Chris¬ 
tian  century  by  Caucilius,  a  Roman,  with 
being  the  enemy  of  joy  and  the  mother 
of  gloom.  He  could  hardly  have  been 
ignorant  of  the  fact  that  at  that  time, 
when  Rome  had  the  world  in  its  iron 
grasp  and  was  squeezing  it  as  a  sponge 
in  hope  of  securing  a  few  more  drops  of 
pleasure,  and  had  offered  a  prize  to  the 
one  who  would  invent  a  new  pleasure, 
the  great  capital  was  pervaded  by  a  de¬ 
spairing  sadness,  with  disgust  and  secret 
loathing  of  life,  which  made  it,  of  all 
times,  an  age  of  suicide. 

Jesus  taught  that  in  his  kingdom  they 
knew  how  to  live  overflowing  lives;  not 
“animality  at  top  notch,”  nor  culture  at 
the  peak,  nor  earthly  good  at  its  full, 
but  life  “divine,  victorious,  complete.” 
This  Jesus  hid  from  the  wise  and  the 
worldly  and  revealed  to  those  who  could 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  31 


receive  it  in  the  parable  of  the  pearl  of 
great  price  and  the  treasure  hid  in  the 
field.  If  the  world  ever  regains  its  lost 
happiness,  it  must  inquire  at  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 


CHAPTER  IV 


FREEDOM 

“A  sadly  toiling  slave,  dragging  the  slowly  lengthen¬ 
ing  chain 

Of  bondage  to  the  grave.” 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  stands  for  free¬ 
dom.  At  the  opening  of  his  ministry, 
from  the  rostrum  of  the  synagogue  at 
Nazareth,  Jesus  said:  “He  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  .  .  .  deliverance  to  the  cap¬ 
tives,  and  ...  to  set  at  liberty  them  that 
are  bruised.”  Freedom  is  in  the  very 
air  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  thought  of 
any  man  being  in  any  sort  of  bondage 
to  his  brother,  intolerable.  Jesus  would 
have  men  serve,  but  serve  by  choice  and 
call  not  any  man  master.  A  primal  im¬ 
pulse  of  fallen  man  is  to  enslave  his 
fellow.  Making  yokes,  forging  fetters, 
building  prisons  and  gibbets  is  a  trade 
whose  origin  is  in  a  dim  past.  Even  in 
Christian  countries  no  small  fraction  of 
the  population  is  in  jail.  The  sighing  of 
those  bound  in  some  sort  of  prison  has 

32 


FREEDOM 


33 


been  quite  as  constant  in  the  history  of 
the  world  as  the  roar  of  the  ocean  or  the 
soughing  of  the  wind  in  the  pine  trees. 

“So  free  we  seem. 

So  fettered  fast  we  are.” 

The  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
was  a  virtual  proclamation  of  emancipa¬ 
tion.  Though  it  is  not  of  this  world,  it 
is  in  it,  and  implies  freedom  of  mankind 
from  unjust  and  tyrannical  government. 
In  a  Roman  court  and  before  a  judge 
Jesus  protested  against  a  blow  dealt  him 
by  the  fist  of  a  hireling  of  the  govern¬ 
ment,  saying,  “If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear 
witness  of  the  evil :  but  if  well,  why  smitest 
thou  me?”  He  was  not  against  the 
government,  but  for  it  in  protesting  against 
injustice  that  must  in  the  end  bring  it 
into  disrepute.  He  was  the  patriot,  and 
the  smiter  the  enemy  of  the  country.  As 
time  rolls  on,  the  platform  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  broadens  as  a  rock  on  the  sea¬ 
shore  as  the  tide  goes  out  grows  into  a 
wide  plateau.  There  is  room  enough  on 
the  platform  of  that  vigorous  protest  for 
all  those  who  struggle  against  political 


34  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


corruption.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
not  so  permeated  by  other-worldliness  as 
to  ignore  a  struggle  for  righteousness  and 
justice  in  this.  “He  whom  the  Son  makes 
free  is  free  indeed.”  Thus  Jesus  warned 
men  that  political  freedom  is  only  a 
fraction  of  freedom  and  not  its  whole. 
He  characterized  the  Jewish  religion  as 
preached  and  practiced  in  his  day  as, 
in  the  main,  burden  and  fetter  and  bond¬ 
age.  Strange  as  it  seems,  that  religion 
could  change  its  coat  and  character,  and 
from  being  a  staff  in  the  hand  to  lean 
upon,  climb  to  the  neck  and  become  a 
yoke  on  which  to  fasten  a  load,  yet  such 
is  the  history  of  many  religions  from 
Jephthah  to  the  latest  medicine-man  on 
the  Indian  Reservation.  Bondage  is  bond¬ 
age,  though  in  place  of  a  tyrannical  master 
or  a  heartless  government  there  be,  at 
the  other  end  of  the  chain,  a  corrupt 
religious  hierarchy,  or  a  cruel  and  remorse¬ 
less  idol  of  brass  or  stone.  Political  free¬ 
dom  with  spiritual  bondage  is  as  vain  as 
to  free  the  hands  of  a  prisoner  while  his 
feet  are  left  in  the  stocks.  Millions  of 
the  race  who  have  been  delivered,  in  the 


FREEDOM 


35 


main,  from  political  tyranny,  are  in  abject 
fear  and  cruel  bondage  to  angry  gods  and 
evil  spirits  that  dog  their  steps,  frown  on 
them  out  of  the  clouds,  speak  in  the 
thunder,  and  flame  forth  in  the  lightning 
and  the  storm. 

Out  of  the  heart  of  man  debased  by 
the  absence  of  religion  have  always  sprung 
shoots  that  grew  into  strong  arms  of 
habit  that  have  bound  him  to  courses  of 
life  degrading,  burdensome,  killing;  leaving 
him  little  more  freedom  than  the  oak 
finds  when  the  matadore  vine  wraps 
about  it  its  snakelike  branches,  and  ren¬ 
dering  him  as  helpless  as  Laocoon  and 
his  sons  in  the  coils  of  the  serpents.  Com¬ 
pulsion  is  unnecessary.  In  their  blindness 
men  reach  out  their  wrists  to  receive  the 
manacles  and  present  an  ear  to  the  door¬ 
post  for  an  awl-mark  of  perpetual  bond¬ 
age.  They  wear  their  chains  and  bear 
the  marks  of  servitude  proudly.  We  do 
not  need  to  go  back  to  Jesus’  day,  but 
we  find  mention  there  of  some  who  were 
“slaves  of  sin”;  of  others  who  “served 
divers  lusts  and  passions,”  and  of  some 
“who  could  not  cease  from  sin,”  but 


36  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


were  at  the  same  time  “speaking  great 
swelling  words  of  vanity”  about  their 
freedom.  To  say  I  should  or  would,  but 
cannot,  is  to  bare  the  neck  and  reveal 
the  iron  collar  of  serfdom. 

The  utmost  freedom  possible  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  has  and  covets  for  all 
men.  It  does  not  offer  freedom  to  do 
wrong  or  injure  one’s  neighbor.  The 
express  train  has  a  right  to  ask  that  all 
obstructions  be  taken  from  the  track,  but 
not  for  freedom  to  leave  the  rails  at  will. 
The  earth  moves  sweetly  and  silently  on 
its  appointed  course  round  the  sun  and 
is  not  in  bondage,  because  it  cannot  run 
amuck  through  the  heavens.  In  that 
way  is  no  freedom,  but  wreck  and  ruin 
instead.  Every  step  in  such  a  course 
creates  or  brings  to  light  other  bonds  and 
more  abject  slavery.  The  herds  on  the 
fenced  ranges  of  the  West  live  in  the 
utmost  freedom.  They  feed  on  the  hills, 
drink  from  the  streams,  and  lie  down  at 
will.  The  moment  the  wild  desire  takes 
them  to  break  over  restraints,  they  learn 
that  a  barbed-wire  fence  can  make  cruel 
wounds  and  that  dogs  and  angry  cowboys 


FREEDOM 


37 


do  not  spell  freedom.  The  farmer,  worn 
out  with  toil,  seeks  relaxation  by  a  visit 
to  the  city.  He  seeks  no  high-seasoned 
pleasure,  but  relaxation.  He  may  be 
seen  at  the  parks,  the  museums,  and 
picture-halls,  tired  out,  but  happy.'  He 
returns  at  the  end  of  his  week,  with  no 
remembrance  of  having  seen  a  policeman, 
or  heard  of  a  jail,  a  police  court,  or  any¬ 
thing  to  make  his  visit  unpleasant.  The 
crook  comes  to  the  city  to  rob  and  to 
steal.  He  comes  in  contact  with  officers 
of  the  law,  makes  acquaintance  with  a 
judge,  rides  in  a  prison  van,  finds  how 
the  inside  of  a  jail  looks  and  how  prison 
fare  tastes  and  what  it  feels  like  to  lie 
on  a  jail  bed,  and  has  no  end  of  unpleasant 
experiences.  All  these  rasping  and  humil¬ 
iating  things  and  the  law  itself  “were  not 
made  for  a  righteous  man,  but  for  the 
lawless  and  disobedient,  for  the  ungodly 
and  for  sinners,  for  the  unholy  and  pro¬ 
fane.’ ’  If  all  were  righteous,  there  would 
be  no  need  of  law,  save  for  education  and 
information.  The  way  of  the  Kingdom 
is  to  make  men  better,  ruler  and  ruled, 
and  thus  make  the  world  free. 


38  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  committed 
to  unswerving  allegiance  to  truth.  Though 
he  refused  to  become  or  to  be  called  a 
king,  Jesus  said  to  the  incarnation  of 
falsehood  and  insincerity  seated  on  the 
Roman  tribunal,  “Thou  sayest  that  I  am 
a  king.  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for 
this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that 
I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.” 
Not  only  does  Jesus  reign  over  his  king¬ 
dom  of  truth,  but  he  is  the  embodiment 
of  its  inner  spirit.  He  said,  “I  am  the 
truth.”  His  mightiest  utterances  were 
clinched  with  a  “Verily,  verily.”  The  gold 
and  silver  from  the  mine  and  pearls  from 
the  sea  he  leaves  to  men.  On  the  other 
hand,  truth,  wherever  found  and  by  whom¬ 
soever,  he  claims  for  his  kingdom.  We 
credit  certain  truths  to  Zoroaster  or 
Buddha,  others  to  Plato  or  Paul.  They 
only  found  them,  and  finding  does  not 
constitute  ownership.  The  truths  that 
the  future  folds  in  its  closed  hand  are 
his  also. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  demands  of  its 
citizens  loyalty  to  truth.  Though  it  lead 
to  the  lions,  to  the  galley,  to  prison,  to 


FREEDOM 


39 


social  ostracism,  to  death,  there  must  be 
no  flinching,  no  compromise.  4  4  We  can 
do  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the 
truth, must  be  the  watchword.  In  its 
Hall  of  Fame  martyrs  of  the  truth  occupy 
the  first  place.  The  King  of  this  kingdom 
is  one  of  them. 

Nor  must  men  stumble  when  they  dis¬ 
cover  that  truth  is  not  static,  but  is  always 
leading  out  and  on.  Or,  rather,  it  is  ever 
fulfilling  itself  as  the  green  bud  fulfills 
itself  in  the  blushing  rose,  the  acorn  in 
the  oak,  the  helpless  babe  in  the  stalwart 
and  bearded  man,  the  typical  sacrifice  for 
sin,  in  the  Christ  who  taketh  away  sin. 
Truth  is  ever  on  the  march.  To  be  loyal 
to  it  men  must  follow.  The  loyalty  that 
is  true  to  that  which  is,  denying  that  it 
may  go  on  to  perfection,  is  as  wanting  as 
the  mother  love  that  tarries  about  the 
cradle  when  its  occupant  has  gone  on  to 
manhood,  and  in  the  struggle  of  life  sorely 
needs  the  strength  which  her  sympathy 
and  love  would  give.  Coming  up  out  of 
Egypt,  the  Hebrew  nation  seemed  deter¬ 
mined  to  tarry  about  Sinai  where  Jehovah 
had  spoken  to  Moses.  They  abandoned 


40  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


the  thought  as  they  saw  the  pillar  of 
cloud  far  out  over  the  desert,  on  the  way 
to  the  promised  land.  To  have  failed  to 
follow  would  have  been  to  lose  forever  the 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  to  have 
no  part  in  the  city  and  temple  built  on 
Mount  Moriah,  no  part  in  Bethlehem  and 
Nazareth  and  Calvary,  the  empty  sepul¬ 
cher  and  the  upper  room.  So  often  as 
men  think  they  have  heard  the  last  word 
and  begin  to  build  tabernacles  to  dwell 
in,  they  are  likely  to  hear  the  voice  of 
Jesus  saying,  “I  have  yet  many  things  to 
say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them 
now.”  He,  in  all  the  yesterdays  and  in 
all  the  to-morrows  the  same,  is  with  the 
years  unfolding  in  beauty  and  glory. 
What  seems  change  is  only  a  more  com¬ 
plete  unveiling.  He  said,  “The  truth  shall 
make  you  free.”  That  would  be  strange 
freedom  which  gave  liberty  in  all  things 
save  freedom  to  follow  the  truth. 


CHAPTER  V 


ALTRUISM 

“There  is  no  social  order,  no  society,  no  peace  or 
happiness,  no  righteous  leadership  or  kingship,  un¬ 
less  men  lose  themselves  in  something  greater  than 
themselves.” — Wells. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  differentiated 
from  earthly  kingdoms  by  the  loftiest 
altruism.  In  ideals  and  in  estimates  of 
what  is  noble  and  worth  while  in  life,  it 
came  as  a  revolution.  A  group  of  scien¬ 
tists  maintain  that  at  some  time  in  the 
past  and  for  reasons  that  we  cannot  now 
discern,  this  earth  suddenly  changed  its 
axis  so  that  the  poles  took  the  place  of 
the  equator  and  the  equator  of  the  poles. 
It  was  conduct  extraordinary  for  this 
generally  stable  world,  but  hardly  more 
marked  than  that  which  took  place  in 
the  world  of  ideals  and  concepts  of  human 
life.  It  was  unquestioned  that  if  a  grain 
.  of  wheat  died,  it  died  and  there  was  no 
more  of  it.  The  new  conception  was  if 
it  dies,  it  lives,  and  only  by  death  in  this 

41 


42  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


dark  earth,  can  it  live.  It  was  said  if  a 
man  lose  his  life,  he  loses  it,  and  for  him 
there  is  no  other.  According  to  the  new 
thinking,  if  he  lose  his  life  for  others,  he 
saves  it.  According  to  the  old,  if  a  man 
desired  fame,  he  diligently  sought  it,  keep¬ 
ing  himself  in  the  limelight,  and  drawing 
in  to  himself  the  means  to  attain  his  end 
as  the  cuttle  fish  draws  toward  its  ca¬ 
pacious  maw  each  particle  of  food  in  the 
water.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  taught 
that  only  as  a  man  forgot  himself  in 
seeking  the  welfare  of  others  would  he 
be  remembered.  The  noblest  things  were 
to  be  obtained,  not  by  seeking,  but  by 
renouncing  them.  If  one  would  rise,  he 
must  stoop.  Happiness  sought  as  an  end 
was  evasive,  but  happiness  renounced,  in 
thought  of  others,  came  in  double  measure 
to  the  generous  soul.  To  truly  love  life 
one  must  hate  it.  It  was  ever  esteemed 
blessed  to  receive  houses  and  lands  and 
gold  and  goods,  but  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  would  have  it  that  it  was  more 
blessed  to  give  them.  To  surrender  goods 
and  lands  and  fathers  and  brethren  for 
love  of  God  and  country,  was  to  find 


ALTRUISM 


43 


them,  as  Monica  found  Augustine  and 
Cornelius  his  household.  To  be  minis¬ 
tered  unto,  lavishly,  obsequiously,  was  to 
obtain  the  highest  good  the  world  has  to 
offer;  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  they 
thought  it  nobler  and  better  to  minister 
than  to  be  ministered  unto. 

This  higher  conception  of  life  was  not 
altogether  unknown  in  the  past,  and  now 
and  then  a  noble  example  of  self-sacrifice 
flared  forth  in  the  moral  night;  it  re¬ 
mained  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to 
announce  it  as  its  ideal  for  every  citizen 
of  the  Kingdom  and  for  Jesus  to  give 
his  never-to-be-forgotten  example  of  ut¬ 
most  self-sacrifice  for  the  world. 

By  a  process  of  absorption,  rather  than 
by  formal  acceptance,  this  ideal  of  the 
noblest  in  life  finds  place  not  alone 
among  Christians,  but  in  the  world  at 
large.  It  figures  extensively  in  literature, 
is  emblazoned  in  art  and  voiced  in  song 
and  verse.  Who  is  the  greatest?  To-day 
the  almost  universal  answer  is  “He  who 
serves  most.”  The  jingle  of  gold  in  the 
pocket  of  the  plutocrat  or  the  silver  tongue 
of  the  ambitious  statesman  may  enthuse 


44  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


the  rabble,  but  not  for  long,  and  even 
that  is  drowned  in  the  larger  and  more 
sincere  applause  for  men  of  the  type  of 
Abou  Ben  Adhem.  The  most  popular 
word  of  the  day  is  “democracy.”  It 
points  away  from  self  to  the  many,  as 
autocracy  would  that  the  many  should 
pay  tribute  to  the  one.  A  new  enthusiasm 
is  spreading  from  Jesus  its  center  out 
over  the  sea  of  humanity  in  ever-widening 
circles.  Like  the  receiver  of  the  tele¬ 
graphic  messages  who  hears  but  does  not 
heed  the  many  clicks  of  his  instrument 
till  a  well-known  signal  strikes  his  ear,  so 
the  world  hears  with  much  complacency 
many  subtly  arranged  calls  for  popular 
favor,  but  gives  instant  attention  to  news 
that  a  new  hero  has  laid  his  life  a  willing 
sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  his  country.  The 
popular  heart-throb  then  is  like 

“When  a  deed  is  done  for  freedom 

Through  the  broad  earth’s  aching  breast, 
Runs  a  thrill  of  joy  prophetic, 

Trembling  on  from  East  to  West.” 

In  the  progress  of  the  human  race  “the 
noblest  Roman  of  them  all”  may  yet 


ALTRUISM 


45 


appear,  but  we  know  what  he  shall  be — 
a  feeble  replica  of  Him  who  gave  his  life 
for  the  world.  This  is  a  great  triumph 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


CHAPTER  VI 


SERVANT  OF  ALL 

“The  grace  that  came  to  earth  and  found  no 
word  to  speak  it.” 

When  the  Messiah  was  published  as  a 
carpenter,  the  world  was  amused;  when  he 
was  described  as  one  girt  with  a  towel 
with  a  bowl  in  his  hands  in  the  act  of 
washing  the  feet  of  a  company  of  peasants, 
the  Jews  were  scandalized  and  the  rest 
laughed.  Yet  thus  we  must  think  of  him, 
and  in  so  doing  we  are  noting  another 
mark  of  the  Kingdom  as  expressed  in 
his  confession,  “I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart.”  Perhaps  Jesus  alone  could  speak 
thus  without  violating  the  spirit  of  the 
words  he  uttered,  for  self-effacement  is 
not  a  plant  indigenous  to  the  soil  of  the 
human  heart.  He  said  in  substance:  “I 
make  myself  of  no  reputation.  I  was 
born  in  a  much-despised  city.  I  have 
the  form  of  a  servant,  I  travel  about  on 
foot,  I  eat  with  publicans  and  sinners,  my 
most  intimate  friends  are  fishermen;  when 

46 


SERVANT  OF  ALL 


47 


in  Galilee  I  am  entertained  at  the  home 
of  a  fisherman,  when  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jerusalem,  at  a  home  where  there  are 
no  servants;  I  choose  to  have  it  thus.” 

Humility,  the  grace  which  came  to 
earth  and  found  no  word  to  speak  it,  has 
since  that  time  found  no  words  to  describe 
itself.  It  has  been  identified  with  mean¬ 
ness  as  one  might  with  equal  absurdity 
identify  a  star  and  a  lucifer  match.  Coun¬ 
terfeit  humility  is  the  most  contemptible 
and  altogether  the  worst  fraud  on  the 
market  of  the  world.  On  February  22, 
1901,  the  Holy  Synod  of  Russia  published 
a  bitter  document  of  excommunication 
against  Leon  Tolstoy,  a  Christian  and 
world-benefactor.  The  document  was 
signed  by  the  Humble  Anthony,  the 
Humble  Theognose  and  the  Humble  Vlad¬ 
imir.  A  letter  in  a  Russian  newspaper, 
issued  soon  after,  read;  “You  hierarchs 
teach  humility  and  simplicity  and  yet  you 
drive  about  in  carriages  drawn  by  six 
horses;  you  are  clothed  in  silk  and  velvet 
and  brocade;  you  wear  miters  on  your 
heads  and  vestments  covered  with  dia¬ 
monds.”  The  “humble”  signatures  of 


48  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


those  who  in  six-horse  carriages  displayed 
their  silks  and  jewels  is  proof  that  they 
admired  humility  and  coveted  the  reputa¬ 
tion  of  possessing  it.  The  description  of  a 
piece  of  land  states  that  it  is  over  against 
a  certain  other  property  and  at  such  and 
such  a  distance  from  a  given  point.  Should 
one  thus  describe  the  humble  mind  he 
would  say  that  it  was  exactly  over  against 
pride  and  a  long  distance  away  from  it. 
On  the  dark  and  almost  unrelieved  back¬ 
ground  of  human  vanity  how  starlike 
glows  the  lowly  Nazarene!  How  truly 
epoch-making  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  into  a  world  of 
brazen  self-assertion  in  spite  of  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  mediocre  talents,  of  coarseness 
under  a  thin  veil  of  culture,  of  scrimping 
poverty  with  pretended  wealth  and  of 
humble  birth  and  ancestry  with  claim 
of  long  and  honorable  lineage.  The  ab¬ 
sence  of  the  spirit  that  “minds  not  high 
things”  and  is  content,  if  Providence  so 
orders,  with  the  lowly  path  and  the  simple 
life,  leads  to  an  accumulation  of  excess 
baggage  that  makes  the  journey  of  life  a 
toilsome  and  annoying  experience.  Thus 


SERVANT  OF  ALL 


49 


a  man  buys  a  pretentious  home  to  hnd 
that  he  has  bought  an  extensive  assort¬ 
ment  of  cares  and  expensive  discomforts. 
The  few  joys  and  simple  pleasures  he 
had,  in  the  old  home,  refuse  to  move 
into  the  new  house.  He  is  there  a  stranger 
and  has  exchanged  a  care-free  home  for 
a  jangling  servants’  boarding  house. 

For  centuries  men  have  been  singing 
“And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride.” 

Should  they  in  good  earnest  set  about 
the  task,  what  oceans  of  contempt  would 
be  necessary  that  each  act  of  human 
pride  might  receive  but  a  few  drops. 

Human  nature  can  be  depended  upon 
to  move  in  the  line  of  the  least  resistance, 
that  is,  toward  pride  and  away  from  hu¬ 
mility.  It  is  easier  to  resent  a  wrong 
than  to  forgive  an  injury.  Seeds  of  pride 
grow  in  the  worst  of  soil,  especially  if  it 
is  shallow.  An  ignorant  Negro  in  a  prayer 
meeting  held  in  a  shack  in  a  Mississippi 
hamlet,  a  man  of  forbidding  appearance, 
miserably  clothed  and  without  a  dollar  of 
wealth,  with  evident  sincerity  again  and 
again  put  up  the  petition,  “Lord,  make 
me  humble.”  With  enough,  one  would 


50  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


think,  to  make  him  humble,  he  was  pur¬ 
sued  by  the  devil  of  pride.  Pride  in  this 
case  showed  itself  wanting  in  pride  when 
it  chose  such  a  victim.  A  man  of  whom 
all  the  people  are  proud,  knew  but  one 
poem  and  that,  “O  why  should  the  spirit 
of  mortal  be  proud?”  It  was  because  he 
was  great  of  soul  that  he  saw  through  the 
shams  and  shoddy  of  a  generation  that 
stands  at  the  street  corners  and  in  the 
market  places  proclaiming  its  own  superi¬ 
ority,  and  that  this  life  at  best  is  “a 
fast-flitting  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud,” 
where  pride  is  but  a  monstrous  deformity. 

In  this  way  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
the  ally  of  good  government  and  a  friend 
of  law  and  order.  In  a  democracy,  espe¬ 
cially,  men  must  submit  themselves  one 
to  another.  They  must  in  honor  prefer 
one  another  and  stand  by  one  another, 
each  in  his  place.  The  vain,  the  high- 
tempered  man  cannot  do  this.  He  must 
rule  or  ruin.  An  army  of  Benedict 
Arnolds  would  be  but  a  herd  of  wild 
cattle,  a  nation  of  Aaron  Burrs  would  be 
a  continuous  storm  at  sea,  wave  lashing 
wave.  Humility  thus  becomes  a  granite 


SERVANT  OF  ALL 


51 


foundation  on  which  to  rest  a  stable 
government. 

The  principles  already  noted  are  suffi¬ 
cient  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  A  complete  summary  must 
include  “whatsoever  things  are  pure,  what¬ 
soever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things 
are  of  good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue 
and  if  there  be  any  praise.” 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  AS  IT 

ROLLED 

“Great  is  His  kingdom  and  of  His  dominion  there 
is  no  frontier.” 

Before  a  sculptor  begins  to  embody  a 
new  conception  in  marble  he  makes  a 
rude  clay  image  that  may  be  a  kind  of 
stepping-stone  to  the  perfect  work  which 
follows.  The  things  of  earth  are  rude 
shadows  or  first  models  of  things  of  the 
spirit,  and  furnish  many  hints  as  to  their 
nature.  To  one  of  these  we  turn  for 
illustration  of  another  characteristic  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  glacier,  especially  that  of  the  Alps, 
has  always  been  an  object  of  immense 
interest.  It  was  a  frozen  river  filling  wide 
mountain  gorges,  extending  from  the  cul¬ 
tivated  fields  at  the  base  of  the  moun¬ 
tains  back  and  up  through  the  tortuous 
windings  of  the  canyons  to  the  mountain 
tops;  in  depth  equaling  the  height  of 
lofty  peaks,  piled  up  in  hummocks  crossed 
by  wide  crevasses  of  unknown  depth,  here 

52 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  53 


suggesting  waves  thrown  up  and  con¬ 
gealed  in  midair,  and  there  a  cataract 
caught  and  frozen  as  it  leaped  from  a 
height;  in  bulk  and  avoirdupois  com¬ 
parable  to  mountain  ranges.  Visitors  were 
too  much  occupied  in  admiring  its  beauty 
or  too  deeply  impressed  by  its  grandeur 
to  philosophize  about  it,  till  a  scientist 
published  the  conjecture  that  a  glacier 
was  not  the  static  thing  they  had  thought, 
but  that  it  moved  and  was  actually 
traveling  down  the  gorge  toward  the  sea. 
In  opposition  it  was  alleged  that  the 
road  over  which  it  must  pass  was  exceed¬ 
ingly  crooked,  sometimes  broad  and  often 
narrow,  and  that  the  power  to  move 
such  a  mass  must  be  unthinkably  great 
and  was  nowhere  in  evidence.  All  things 
must  give  way  to  facts  and  these  were 
furnished  by  selecting  a  landmark  on  the 
mountain  side,  and  erecting  an  observation 
post  on  the  ice,  by  which  it  was  evident 
that  the  glacier  was  moving  with  ma¬ 
jestic  step  down  to  the  cities  and  habita¬ 
tions  of  the  plain.  It  was  estimated  that 
all  the  machinery  in  the  world,  with  all 
the  power  of  oxen,  horses,  mules,  camels, 


54  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


reindeer,  and  water  buffaloes,  would  not 
suffice  to  move  an  ordinary  glacier  a 
single  inch;  yet  within  its  congealed  mass 
was  a  power  that  easily  and  without 
ceasing  marched  on,  carrying  with  it 
huge  pines  and  oaks  that  had  been  broken 
off  or  torn  up  by  the  roots,  together  with 
millions  of  tons  of  rock.  No  wonder  the 
superstition  spread  that  the  glacier  was 
alive.  The  more  ignorant  saw  in  it  a 
huge  ice  serpent  slowly  crawling  to  the 
sea,  a  monster  of  the  same  race  as  the 
giant  sleeping  under  Vesuvius,  who  by 
turning  on  his  bed  caused  the  eruptions. 

At  its  inception  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
attracted  as  little  attention  as  a  glacier 
among  the  peasants  in  a  Swiss  hamlet. 
The  Roman  world  had  become  accus¬ 
tomed  to  an  attempt  to  set  up  a  new 
kingdom  in  some  of  the  provinces.  It  had 
no  vitality  and  crumbled  as  a  Roman 
legion  appeared.  Fanatical  Jews  had  done 
the  same  among  their  people  and  suc¬ 
ceeded  no  better.  When  Jesus  came 
preaching  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  he  was 
regarded  as  but  the  last  of  many  to  play 
that  role.  As  the  days  passed  they 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  55 


noted  the  spread  of  the  new  kingdom 
from  city  to  city  across  the  seas  and  over 
the  mountains.  Somewhat  alarmed,  an 
investigation  was  ordered.  Multitudes 
were  summoned  before  Roman  consuls  and 
not  a  few  were  tortured  to  elicit  the  truth. 
The  result  was  to  establish  the  fact  of 
the  marvelous  spread  of  the  Kingdom 
and  the  absence  of  any  reason  that  could 
account  for  it.  As  to  an  army,  there  were 
two  swords,  but  not  a  soldier.  The  navy 
was  composed  of  a  half  dozen  fishing 
boats.  The  capital,  if  there  were  any, 
was  the  home  of  a  fisherman  on  the  shores 
of  Galilee;  as  to  the  treasury,  there  was 
none,  nor  need  of  one.  The  citizens  of 
this  Kingdom  were  one  and  all  without 
influential  connections  and  without  stand¬ 
ing  in  society.  To  learn  that  the  Kingdom 
was  reaching  out  beyond  the  Alps  and 
across  the  Mediterranean  and  at  the  same 
time  that  there  was  no  reason  why  it 
should  spread  at  all,  was  weird,  uncanny. 
The  belief  of  the  Swiss  peasants  about 
the  glacier,  that  is,  that  it  was  somehow 
a  living  thing,  became  that  of  the  people 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


56  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


That  is  precisely  what  Jesus  taught. 
He  said  it  is  like  seed  that  should  “spring 
and  grow  up  he  Jcnoweth  not  how  .”  He 
said,  “the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of 
herself.”  “Ye  know  not  whence  it  cometh 
nor  whither  it  goeth.”  The  things  that 
Jesus  pointed  out  as  like  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  were  those  that  had  life  and 
motion.  “The  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
in  word,  but  in  power.”  Most  of  all,  he 
found  the  heart  of  his  kingdom  like  to 
life  in  some  of  its  forms.  That  unseen 
and  practically  unknown  somewhat  is  one 
of  nature’s  brawniest  forces.  Life  clothes 
the  fields  with  grass;  it  lifts  millions  of 
tons  of  nourishing  sap  to  the  top  of  loftiest 
trees.  It  germinates  seed  in  the  crevices 
of  castles  and  towers  and  overturns  them. 
It  fills  the  waters  with  fish,  the  air  with 
birds,  and  the  forests  and  plains  with 
wild  beasts.  Yet  no  one  has  seen  life  or 
heard  it.  The  most  we  know  of  life  is 
that  it  does  things,  does  them  quietly  and 
easily  and  by  means  of  resident  forces. 
Life  is  its  own  architect  and  builder,  has 
its  own  laws  and  is  its  own  executor. 
In  this  it  is  like  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  57 


It  is  the  stone  that  grows  as  it  rolls, 
the  river  that  widens  and  deepens  as  it 
flows,  the  corn  that  unfolds  from  blade 
to  ear  and  to  full  corn,  the  talents  that 
from  five  increase  to  ten,  the  leaven  that 
works  on  till  all  is  leavened.  The  ex¬ 
planation  is  brief — “Ye  know  not  how .” 
One  cannot  but  be  conscious  that  he  is 
in  the  presence  of  some  deep  mystery 
beyond  the  vision  of  the  eyes. 

“As  one  who  wandering  in  a  starless  night 
Feels  momently  the  jar  of  unseen  waves. 

And  hears  the  thunder  of  an  unknown  sea 
Breaking  along  an  unimagined  shore.” 

One  can  easily  believe  that  the  stones 
of  the  field  and  the  silent  forces  of  nature 
are  in  league  with  the  Kingdom.  As  to 
Deborah,  not  alone  the  hosts  of  Israel, 
but  the  stars  in  their  courses,  fought 
against  Sisera,  so,  with  no  other  explana¬ 
tion,  he  might  think  of  the  chariot  of 
the  Kingdom  as  hitched  to  and  drawn 
onward  by  the  same  horses  of  fire. 

We  sometimes  look  upon  change,  move¬ 
ment,  and  even  progress,  where  we  are 
able  to  see  causes  which  led  up  to  the 
result.  This  is,  in  some  cases,  a  gifted 


58  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


leader  and  in  others  efficient  organization. 
These  outside  forces  are  necessary  in  the 
measure  that  the  inner  spirit  and  life  are 
lacking.  The  early  years  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  are  only  explicable  as  the  result 
of  the  working  of  silent  and  secret  forces. 

From  the  glacier,  which  for  the  sake  of 
illustration  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
sighting  across  to  some  landmark  on  the 
shore,  can  we  not  see  that  there  is  move¬ 
ment?  The  mountains  do  not  move,  but 
the  ice  river  does.  The  mountains  are 
inert,  static,  dead;  the  river  is  life  and 
motion.  It  has  a  future  and  presses  on 
to  inherit  its  kingdom  of  smiling  fields 
and  valleys  and  its  heaven,  the  wide  sea. 
From  our  position  on  the  glacier,  could  we 
have  occupied  it  in  the  time  of  our  Lord, 
we  might  have  seen  the  Jewish  system 
with  its  Temple  and  city  slowly  passing 
from  sight,  the  city  and  temple  of  the 
great  goddess  Diana  fade  away  on  the 
distant  horizon,  the  cults  of  both  Greek 
and  Roman  left  behind  till  the  tops  of 
ruined  temples  and  broken  shrines  were 
lost  to  view.  For  the  last  time  the  sports 
of  the  gladiators  are  celebrated  in  the 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  59 


Coliseum  and  the  curtain  pulled  down  on 
that  cruel  spectacle.  The  Roman  Empire 
that  once  outlawed  now  accepts  and  pro¬ 
tects  the  new  Kingdom.  Something 
moves;  it  is  not  the  old  pagan  world. 
Something  is  left  behind  to  death  and 
oblivion;  it  is  not  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
In  our  day  we  have  only  to  sight  from 
the  onward  moving  Kingdom  to  the  shore 
to  be  forced  to  say,  as  did  Galileo  on 
bended  knee  in  Saint  Peter’s,  “It  does 
move.” 

One  is  even  more  startled  to  find  that 
a  part  of  this  change  is  in  oneself.  With¬ 
out  consciously  deserting  the  old  ideals  or 
accepting  new  views,  men  find  themselves 
at  a  viewpoint  that  they  never  dreamed 
they  would  occupy  and  looking  at  their 
fellows  and  their  doings  through  other 
eyes  than  those  they  once  possessed. 
They  are  the  trees  and  rocks  along  the 
margin  of  the  glacier  that,  one  by  one, 
desert  their  ancient  habitat  and  join  the 
procession.  / 

Expansion  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
cannot  be  measured  by  the  progress  or 
decline  of  any  human  institution.  To 


60  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


cherish  high  hopes  for  the  Kingdom  be¬ 
cause  the  church  prospers  and  the  world 
is  growing  better,  or  to  yield  to  despair 
because  they  seem  to  be  losing  ground, 
is  to  make  the  mistake  of  the  passenger 
in  the  train  who  imagines  that  he  is  going 
forward  because  the  train  on  the  nearby 
track  is  going  back,  or  that  he  is  going 
back  because  it  is  advancing.  The  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  stands  and  must  be  judged 
by  itself.  Is  it  winning  its  way  as  Jesus 
said  it  would  or  is  it  losing  out?  Is  not 
the  situation  this?  In  all  progress  there 
is  first  the  battle  for  the  ideal  or  goal, 
then  the  struggle  to  realize  the  ideal. 
The  heads  of  a  household  often  spend 
more  time  and  anxious  thought  in  deciding 
upon  the  plans  and  specifications  of  a 
new  home  than  over  their  embodiment 
in  brick  and  mortar.  A  battle  for  the 
ideals  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  been 
in  progress  since  the  publication  of  its 
Gospels.  Can  we  say  that  this  battle 
has  been  substantially  won?  What  other 
scheme  of  world-betterment  is  even 
offered?  In  what  larger  hope  can  the 
world  indulge?  Toward  what  star  shall 


THE  STONE  THAT  GREW  61 


the  ship  of  humanity  steer  if  not  toward 
the  star  of  Bethlehem?  On  the  other 
hand,  the  work  of  putting  the  principles 
of  the  Kingdom  into  the  governments, 
laws,  customs,  manners,  and  social  and 
industrial  relations  of  men  is  apparently 
just  begun. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


EMMANUEL— GOD  WITH  US 

“The  late  Dr.  Dale  has  left  on  record  the  almost 
unutterable  feelings  that  stirred  within  his  soul 
when  he  first  realized  that  Jesus  Christ  is  alive. 
He  thought  he  had  always  believed  it  and  had 
often  preached  it,  but  never  till  one  ever-to-be- 
remembered  moment  did  he  realize  it.” — Walker. 

To  set  forth  a  great  result,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  presence  and  expansion 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  without  at 
the  same  time  assigning  some  adequate 
cause,  leaves  the  mind  in  the  condition 
of  the  multitude  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
after  the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes. 
There  was  a  definite  result — the  feeding 
of  five  thousand.  The  only  thing  to 
account  for  it,  so  far  as  they  could  see, 
was  a  lad  with  five  loaves  and  two  small 
fish.  It  is  not  our  purpose,  having  called 
attention  to  the  expansion  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  to  leave  the  reader  to  account 
for  it  as  best  he  can.  There  can  be  but 
one  explanation  and  that  the  presence 
and  power  of  Jesus.  This  opens  the  way 

62 


GOD  WITH  US 


63 


to  consider,  more  in  detail,  the  King,  as 
we  have  before  the  Kingdom.  Jesus 
taught  much  concerning  his  kingdom  and 
much  less  about  himself.  He  knew  the  limi¬ 
tations  of  the  human  understanding  and 
that  to  man  the  nature  of  God  and  the 
scheme  of  the  universe  are  unimaginable. 

The  thought  of  God  as  one,  and  at  the 
same  time  triune,  is  a  noble  conception, 
worthy  of  being  regarded  as  the  utmost 
of  God’s  endeavor  by  words  to  reveal 
himself  to  man  and  of  man’s  by  searching 
to  find  out  God.  Here  we  are  swimmers 
that  with  few  strokes  find  ourselves  be¬ 
yond  our  depth  and  must  make  for  shore. 
Yet  the  sea  in  a  rude  form  instructs  us 
about  Jesus  and  one  whom  he  called  his 
heavenly  Father  and  with  whom  he  said 
he  was  one.  A  part  of  the  ocean  is  near 
the  shore.  I  hear  the  gentle  murmur  of 
the  waves  that  wash  the  sand,  or  break  in 
thunder  upon  the  rocks.  I  can  swim  in 
it  and  “fearlessly  lay  my  hand  upon  the 
ocean’s  mane.”  I  can  launch  a  boat 
and  ride  upon  it.  I  can  know  it,  I  can 
come  into  fellowship  with  it  and  seek 
its  company  whenever  my  duties  will 


64  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


permit.  But  this  is  not  all  of  the  ocean. 
Far  beyond  my  gaze  it  extends,  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  of  miles  in  all  direc¬ 
tions,  its  rocky  bed  as  far  beneath  the 
surface  as  the  clouds  are  above  it.  There 
the  trade  winds  blow  and  icebergs  float 
and  deep  calleth  unto  deep.  There  are 
the  submarine  gardens  and  forests,  the 
caves  of  coral  and  the  wrecks  of  man’s 
proud  ships.  The  little  that  I  see  is 
truly  ocean,  but  what  of  that  beyond? 
Lo,  this  narrow  wash  of  waves  is  a  part 
of  thy  works,  O  ocean,  and  of  thyself,  but 
the  thunder  of  thy  power  who  can  under¬ 
stand?  With  the  ocean  in  its  immensity, 
I  can  never  become  acquainted.  I  shall 
die  and  never  see  the  millionth  part  of 
it.  It  is  too  big  and  I  too  little.  I  say 
of  it,  as  Martin  Luther  of  its  Maker  and 
Lord,  “In  his  majesty  I  cannot  find  God.” 
But  God  dwells  not  alone  in  majesty. 
He  bowed  the  heavens,  came  to  earth 
and  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
became  a  Man.  Simeon,  Anna,  and  his 
“pondering”  mother  were  the  first  to 
notice  that  what  in  the  best  of  men  is  but  a 
smoldering  spark  of  the  Divine  Fire,  was 


GOD  WITH  US 


65 


in  this  youth  a  brightly  burning  flame. 
As  he  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature 
as  a  man,  the  divinity  within  was  man¬ 
ifest  by  words  such  as  never  man  spake, 
by  Godlike  pity  for  suffering  humanity,  by 
helpful  deeds  of  healing,  by  power  to  still 
the  tempest  and  raise  the  dead  and  by 
an  expressed  purpose,  which  astonished 
angels  desired  to  look  into,  to  give  his 
life  for  man.  His  coming  was  not  a  flash 
of  light  which  illumined  the  world  for  a 
little  while  and  then  disappeared.  He 
came  to  establish  a  kingdom  in  which  he 
would  rule  till  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
were  merged  into  the  heavenly  kingdom. 
He  told  them  that  at  about  the  time  of 
his  death  and  for  only  a  little  while  they 
would  not  see  him.  His  absence,  he 
explained,  would  be  that  he  might  be 
with  them  thereafter,  in  a  new  and  better 
sense.  He  departed,  as  he  predicted,  and 
came  again  in  power  and  great  glory  at 
Pentecost. 

He  was,  he  is  the  complete  expression 
of  God  in  human  form,  Emmanuel,  God 
with  us,  earth’s  Redeemer  and  King, 
crowned  and  pledged  to  stay  by  his 


66  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


Kingdom,  world  without  end;  never  to 
leave  the  field  till  the  final  battle  is  won, 
never  to  lay  by  the  ax  till  the  last  tree 
that  brings  forth  evil  fruit  is  cut  down 
or  the  winnowing  fan  until  the  harvest 
is  gathered  into  the  barn.  This  is  the 
all-sufficient  explanation  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Jesus  is  alive;  fills  the  King¬ 
dom  with  his  presence,  and  maintains  it 
by  his  power.  He  is  the  angel  of  the 
covenant  that  was  with  the  Hebrews  in 
the  wilderness,  the  Captain  that  as  leader 
of  the  Lord’s  host  appeared  to  Joshua, 
the  Angel  that  spoke  to  Paul  on  the 
Alexandrian  com  ship,  and  the  Comrade 
in  White  who  made  himself  known  to 
brave  hearts  on  the  field  of  Flanders. 
He  said,  “I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me.”  Many  men  have  been 
lifted  up  on  all  sorts  of  gibbets;  only  One 
draws .  “My  words  are  spirit,  they  are 
life.”  Words,  in  number  like  the  sand 
on  the  seashore,  have  been  spoken  or 
printed,  to  rot  like  leaves  in  ravines  in 
the  woods,  or  be  shut  up  in  moldy  books 
in  libraries.  His  words  not  only  live, 
but  are  life-giving,  reaching  down  into 


GOD  WITH  US 


67 


the  tomblike  souls  of  the  self-satisfied  and 
the  dead  in  sin,  and  waking  the  sleepers. 
Jesus  is  the  life.  The  world  has  long 
known  that  all  fife  must  come  from  life. 
He  is  the  Itaska  of  the  world’s  life  stream. 
Humanity  is  not  always  a  prodigal  son, 
enamored  of  the  pleasures  of  the  far 
country,  but  one  who  is  sick  of  the  farce 
and  lacks  moral  energy  to  arise  and  go 
home.  It  is  a  traveler  in  the  desert  dying 
by  thirst  whose  immediate  need  is  a  little 
water  to  enable  him  to  rise  and  search 
for  more  water.  This  spiritual  inertia 
in  men  has  been  the  despair  of  reformers. 
It  caused  the  death  of  Confucius  and  has 
whitened  many  a  noble  head  and  blanched 
many  a  cheek.  Meliora  video  proboque; 
deteriora  sequor .  The  last  Adam  has 
proven  himself  a  quickening  Spirit,  and 
at  his  word,  men,  institutions  and  nations 
awake,  arise,  and  come  forth.  Because  he 
liveth,  my  race  and  his  kingdom  live  also. 


CHAPTER  IX 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING  AMONG 
THE  DEAD 

“Plus  il  fait  jour,  mieux  on  voit  Dieu.” — Lamartine. 

The  Jews  were  unable  to  see,  at  least 
did  not  see,  that  Jesus  was  their  long- 
expected  Messiah.  They  are  still  waiting. 
They  have  been  joined  by  a  goodly 
company  of  Christians  who  are  also  wait¬ 
ing  for  the  Messiah.  To  the  former,  it  is 
a  first;  to  the  latter  a  second  coming. 
The  mental  attitude  is  the  same.  Those 
who  await  a  second  coming  tell  us  that 
the  Messiah  has  ascended  to  the  Father, 
but  is  present  by  the  Spirit.  Is  not 
presence  by  the  Spirit  the  highest  form 
of  presence  the  human  spirit  can  know? 
Does  not  Paul  labor  through  a  whole 
chapter  to  show  that  the  open  vision  of 
God  which  Moses  knew,  with  the  entire 
dispensation  written  and  engraven  in 
stones,  had  no  glory  when  compared  with 
the  excellence  of  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit.  If  knowledge  of  the  divine  through 

68 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING 


69 


the  Spirit  is  the  highest  form  of  knowl¬ 
edge  and  spiritual  presence  more  real 
than  visible  presence,  why  should  they 
not,  though  now  they  see  him  no  more, 
yet  believing,  rejoice  with  joy  unspeak¬ 
able  and  full  of  glory?  So  long  as  we 
demand  a  visible  presence,  so  long  Jesus 
must  to  us  be  present  only  by  proxy, 
which  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  absence 
in  person.  It  may  be  legal  presence,  it 
can  hardly  be  more.  It  is  not  a  presence 
that  can  satisfy  the  heart.  For  the  time 
being  the  world  has  lost  its  Lord;  the 
throne  of  the  Kingdom  is  without  an 
occupant.  To  hope  and  love,  no  one  can 
take  his  place  or  supply  his  absence. 
Only  a  mighty  faith  can  dissipate  the 
doubt  that  if  he  can  leave  the  world  for 
a  century,  for  a  thousand  years,  for  two 
millenniums,  he  can  stay  forever  where  is 
no  sin  to  annoy  or  cares  to  vex. 

Are  we  compelled  to  think  of  Jesus  as 
an  absentee  Saviour  and  King?  This 
depends  upon  the  answer  we  give  to  the 
question.  What  did  he  mean  when  he 
said,  “I  go  away  and  come  again”?  In 
this  matter  it  is  vain  to  open  any  book 


70  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

save  the  New  Testament  or  to  consult 
any  other  author  than  Jesus.  His  ref¬ 
erences  to  this  theme  were  many.  Of 
that  which  he  taught,  this  is  the  sum: 
“I  am  going  away,  but  will  surely  return. 
The  interval  between  my  going  and  com¬ 
ing  will  be  brief.  My  return  shall  not  be 
after  the  manner  of  my  going.  I  go  in 
apparent  weakness,  I  return  in  power 
and  great  glory.  I  go  as  the  visible 
Christ,  I  return  as  the  Christ  of  the 
Spirit.  My  return  shall  include  the 
apotheosis  of  my  kingdom.”  His  most 
significant  teaching  on  this  subject  is 
thought  to  be  connected  with  his  ascen¬ 
sion.  Rising  through  the  parting  clouds, 
he  shouted  back  a  cheerful  message.  Two 
angels  remained,  apparently  to  encourage 
the  sorrowful  company  by  the  further 
message,  “This  same  Jesus  shall  so  return 
in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go.” 
Was  the  message  to  inform  them  of  the 
manner  of  his  return?  Of  what  interest 
could  it  have  been  to  them,  or  is  it  to  us, 
the  manner  of  his  return,  if  at  Bethany 
or  Nazareth,  alone,  or  with  a  company  of 
angels,  clad  in  the  seamless  robe,  or  in 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING  71 

the  livery  of  heaven?  One  thing  was 
more  important  at  that  hour  and  it  was 
what,  and  all,  that  the  message  said, 
“He  unit  surely  return So  many  had 
gone  away  who  never  did  come  back. 
As  to  the  expression  “in  like  manner,” 
Greek  scholars,  not  a  few,  assert  that 
neither  in  this  instance  nor  in  the  three 
other  cases  in  which  it  is  used  in  the  New 
Testament  has  it  any  reference  to  the 
manner,  but  only  to  the  certainty  of  the 
fact  in  question.  The  sayings  of  Jesus 
about  his  return  were  no  doubt  recalled 
by  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  as  they 
waited  in  the  upper  room.  Would  he 
really  return  and,  in  view  of  his  reference 
to  some  great  exaltation  that  awaited 
him,  would  he  be  the  same  wise,  loving, 
and  faithful  Friend?  They  waited  as  did 
the  household  of  Saul  at  the  entrance  of 
what  they  feared  was  the  death  chamber  of 
the  King.  They  might  have  said  asBrowning 
makes  one  say  to  David  as  he  came  forth, 

“Since  the  King,  O  my  friend,  for  thy  countenance 
sent, 

Neither  drunken  nor  eaten  have  we,  nor  until 
from  his  tent. 


72  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


Thou  return  with  the  joyful  assurance,  the  King 
liveth  yet. 

Shall  our  lips  with  honey  be  bright,  with  the 
water  be  wet.” 

The  tenth  day  arrived  and  with  it  an 
end  of  their  waiting.  The  manifestations 
of  that  chief  of  days  in  the  religious  world 
were  unlike,  and  yet  so  strangely  like, 
what  they  had  seen  before.  They  brought 
to  mind  so  much  they  had  heard  from 
Jesus  about  his  kingdom.  The  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty,  and  many  others,  were 
filled  with  tumultuous  joy,  peace,  and  love. 
They  praised  the  Lord.  Their  gladness 
was  overflowing.  It  was  joy  “unspeak¬ 
able,”  “fulness  of  joy,”  “joy  like  a  river,” 
“joy  that  no  man  taketh  away,”  joy  so 
great  that  they  were  thought  to  have 
partaken  too  freely  of  new  wine.  What 
may  have  astonished  them  most  was  that 
it  was  so  like  the  kingdom  of  heaven .  Yet 
it  was  not  more  like  the  Kingdom  than 
the  sudden  outburst  of  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood,  which,  floodlike,  for  the 
time  being,  obliterated  national  lines, 
broke  down  the  barriers  between  Bar¬ 
barian  and  Scythian,  bond  and  free,  Jew 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING 


73 


and  Gentile.  “Neither  said  any  of  them 
that  aught  that  he  had  was  his  own.” 
“They  had  all  things  common.”  “They 
sold  and  gave  to  the  poor  as  every  man 
had  need.”  It  was  the  altruism  of  Jesus 
and  his  kingdom,  that,  by  a  sudden  coming 
of  heavenly  sunshine  and  rain,  burst  forth 
into  flower  and  fruit.  If  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  meant  freedom  from  all  bonds 
and  fears,  then  it  must  have  come  in 
power  that  day.  This  man  who,  amid 
surging  crowds,  stands  as  fearless  as  a 
lion  and  as  firm  as  a  rock  and  charges 
them  with  the  murder  of  their  Messiah, 
how  little  he  looks  like  the  coward  who 
quailed  before  the  question  of  a  servant. 
This  Peter  and  John,  arrested  and  ques¬ 
tioned  by  the  rulers  of  the  city  and  for¬ 
bidden  to  preach,  how  did  they  dare  to 
put  to  this  august  body  the  question, 
“Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God 
to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto 
God,  judge  ye”?  How  well  they  proved 
in  the  ensuing  days  that  with  the  fear 
of  man  had  departed  all  fear  of  death 
and  hell  and  everything  but  God! 

A  mysterious  power  accompanied  them 


74  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


and  their  work.  A  single  sermon  and  three 
thousand  were  added  to  the  church. 
They  witnessed  in  power.  A  great  fear 
came  upon  the  multitude.  They  were 
afraid  where  no  fear  was.  They  fled 
when  no  man  pursued.  This,  again,  was 
the  Kingdom.  One  by  one  the  principles 
which  Jesus  taught  in  precept  and  parable 
appeared  in  living  form  among  the  mul¬ 
titude.  Barnabas  having  land  sold  it 
and  brought  the  money  and  laid  it  at  the 
apostles’  feet.  Stephen  forgave  and  prayed 
for  his  enemies.  Peter  the  Jew  entered 
and  ate  in  the  home  of  Cornelius  the 
Roman.  Ananias  went  to  a  home  on 
Straight  Street,  Damascus,  and  putting 
his  hands  on  the  head  of  a  man  who  had 
caused  great  slaughter  among  his  brethren, 
said,  “Brother  Saul.”  Truly  this  was  the 
“Kingdom  come.”  The  Kingdom  of  the 
parables  was  the  United  States  as  it 
existed  in  ideal  and  purpose  in  the  hearts 
of  one  hundred  in  the  cabin  of  the  May¬ 
flower  and  the  Kingdom  of  Pentecost  was 
the  United  States  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution. 

Early  in  that  memorable  day  came  the 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING 


75 


joyous  surprise  that  this  breaking  through 
of  heaven  upon  earth  meant  the  return 
of  Jesus.  “This  Jesus,”  said  Peter  in  his 
great  sermon,  “hath  shed  forth  this  which 
ye  now  see  and  hear.”  The  next  day  the 
healing  of  a  lame  man  at  the  Temple  gate 
was  explained  to  the  multitude  as  the 
work  of  Jesus.  Stephen  at  his  martyrdom 
witnessed  that  Jesus  was  nearer  to  him 
than  were  his  persecutors.  It  was  Jesus 
who  confronted  Saul  on  the  road  to 
Damascus  and  said,  “I  am  Jesus  whom 
thou  persecutest.”  It  was  he  who  stood 
by  him  at  his  first  trial  when  all  men 
forsook  him  and  fled  and  he  who  appeared 
to  him  at  Corinth  with  the  assurance 
that  no  man  would  be  permitted  to  do 
him  harm,  and  he  who  was  with  him  on 
the  storm-tossed  and  foundering  corn- 
ship.  Even  a  cursory  reading  of  the 
literature  of  that  day  must  convince  one 
that  the  first  Christians  were  strangely 
impressed  that  Jesus  was  present  with 
them.  If  Pilate  and  the  high  priest  were 
in  Jerusalem  on  that  day,  and  they  doubt¬ 
less  were,  they  saw  the  fulfillment  of  a 
prediction  made  fifty  days  before,  that 


76  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


they  should  see  the  humbled  prisoner 
before  them  coming  in  His  Kingdom  with 
great  power  and  glory.  His  coming  at 
that  time  fulfilled  the  prediction  that  it 
would  be  in  “a  little  while,”  that  it  would 
be  “in  that  generation,”  that  it  would 
be  “before  the  company  sent  out  to 
preach  should  reach  all  the  towns  of 
Israel,”  and  that  it  would  precede  the 
death  of  some  of  the  disciples.  As  to  the 
manner  of  his  reappearing,  they  were  soon 
to  know  of  believers  in  Jerusalem,  Antioch, 
Ephesus,  and  even  in  far-off  Corinth  and 
Rome,  who  were  saying  of  the  same 
Christ  and  at  the  same  moment  “Still, 
still  with  thee  when  evening  shadows 
gather.”  That  these,  so  widely  separated, 
realized  “How  sweet  the  consciousness  I 
am  with  thee”  fulfilled  the  prediction  that 
his  reappearing  would  know  no  place  and 
be  like  the  lightning,  present  at  the  same 
time  in  every  place. 

“We  are  not  to  interpret,”  says  the 
Rev.  W.  L.  Walker,  a  Scottish  clergyman, 
referring  to  the  ascension,  “such  language 
merely  literally,  but  spiritually  and  truly. 
It  does  not  mean  that  Christ  rose  up  in 


SEEKING  THE  LIVING 


77 


some  outward  way  to  a  position  elevated 
above  the  earth  so  that  he  in  some  way 
entirely  left  the  world  of  our  humanity, 
but  that  he  in  that  humanity  which  in 
him  became  one  with  God,  passed  wholly 
into  the  divine  life,  the  manhood,  as  the 
creed  says,  being  taken  up  into  the  God- 
hood  so  as  to  give  him  full  participation 
in  that  infinite  life  of  God  which  is  the 
life  of  Spirit,  and  so  that  he  as  a  spiritual 
divine  and  human  Personality  is  present 
and  working  everywhere.  When  he  put 
off  the  flesh  his  spirit  did  not  go  away 
somewhere,  but  became  free  to  be  present 
everywhere  and  to  become  thus  that 
indwelling  spirit  he  promised  to  his  disci¬ 
ples.  The  first  disciples  might  understand 
this  in  the  sense  of  local  movement,  but 
for  us  to  continue  to  do  so  is  to  material¬ 
ize  spiritual  truth  so  as,  in  time,  to  lose 
it  altogether.” 

Imperfect  as  may  be  this  survey  of 
the  character  and  aims  of  the  Kingdom 
which  Jesus  established,  we  must  turn 
from  it  to  the  more  practical  question  of 
citizenship  in  the  Kingdom. 


CHAPTER  X 
CITIZENS  BY  BIRTH 

“Try  to  become  little  with  the  Little  One  that 
you  may  increase  in  stature  with  Him.” — Bona- 
ventura. 

Jesus  in  his  teaching  referred  to  some 
as  being  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  to 
others  as  about  to  enter.  Some,  he  said, 
were  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God; 
others  were  far  off.  Some  not  only  would 
not  enter  but  hindered  others  from  doing 
so.  Some  were  not  fit  for  the  Kingdom 
and  some  could  not  even  see  the  Kingdom. 
From  this  we  infer  that  it  is  entirely 
proper  to  make  inquiry  concerning  the 
conditions  of  citizenship.  This  carries 
with  it  the  admission  that  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  as  much  a  reality  as  any 
earthly  kingdom,  Italy,  for  instance,  and 
entrance  to  it  as  valid  an  experience  as 
landing  on  the  dock  at  Naples  and  sub¬ 
mitting  one’s  passport  and  baggage  for 
inspection.  This  does  not  apply  to  cit- 

78 


CITIZENS  BY  BIRTH 


79 


izens  who  enter  the  Kingdom  by  the 
Birth  Gate. 

So  vast  is  this  number  that  it  gives 
character  to  the  citizenship  body.  ‘‘Of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  Each 
child  born  into  the  world  Jesus  claims  as 
a  citizen  of  his  kingdom.  This  is  irre¬ 
spective  of  the  flag  under  which  he  was 
born  or  the  quarter  of  the  globe  in  which 
he  came  into  life,  the  religious  belief  or 
unbelief  of  the  parents,  their  Christian 
professions  or  their  pagan  practices,  their 
poverty  or  wealth,  their  standing  in  high 
circles,  or  their  degradation  in  the  under¬ 
world.  Nor  did  it  matter  if  they  were 
children  of  the  Judas  who  betrayed  him, 
the'  witnesses  who  perjured  themselves  at 
his  trial,  the  soldier  who  smote  him,  or 
the  impenitent  thief  who  railed  at  him. 
Not  knowing  the  right  hand  from  the 
left,  with  life  measured  by  a  few  ticks  of 
the  clock,  the  endless  task  of  babyhood 
in  counting  the  fingers,  not  yet  under¬ 
taken,  without  baptism  or  name,  they  are 
birthright  citizens  of  a  kingdom  so  royal 
that  we  call  it  after  the  name  of  the 
abode  of  Deity.  The  name  “citizen”  in 


80  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


this  case  is  no  empty  title  but  carries  with 
it  substantial  honors  and  emoluments. 

The  true  light  that  lighteth  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world;  that  is  part  of 
the  dower  of  childhood.  Is  Christ  the 
light  of  the  world?  Then  we  need  no 
further  proof  that  he  is  the  special  light 
of  those  whose  eyes  yet  blink  with  feeble¬ 
ness  and  the  unaccustomed  glare.  One 
who  looks  back  to  childhood  with  any 
measure  of  introspection  must  discern 
what  was  then  hidden,  that  the  “Hound 
of  God”  was  on  his  track;  not  the  hun¬ 
ter’s  hound  to  slay,  but  the  Saint  Bernard 
of  the  monks’  hospice  with  a  loaf  of  bread 
and  a  flask  of  wine  tied  to  his  neck,  to 
succor  little  pilgrims  who  had  wandered 
from  the  snow-hidden  road,  or  perhaps 
the  faithful  mastiff  swimming  out  among 
the  breakers  to  rescue  one  who,  playing 
too  near  the  edge,  had  been  caught  by  a 
wave  and  borne  out.  Childhood’s  days 
are  fondly  remembered  and  often  recalled, 
but  could  we  turn  that  part  of  life  inside 
out,  we  might  discover  that  the  hands 
that  fashioned  it  were  those  that  were  laid 
on  the  heads  of  little  children. 


CITIZENS  BY  BIRTH 


81 


The  dower  of  childhood  includes  special 
protection.  Sins  against  childhood  are 
super-sins  on  account  of  the  helplessness 
of  the  victims.  His  watchful  eye  is  over 
all,  even  down  to  old  age,  but  only  of 
childhood  is  it  said  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.  The  figure  is  that  of  the  city 
under  the  care  of  the  guardians  of  the 
night,  but  the  watchers  over  some  homes, 
specially  menaced  and  defenseless,  have 
direct  access  at  any  moment  to  the  ruler 
of  the  city.  What  is  punishment  meet  for 
a  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,  or  for  the  crime 
of  leading  even  one  child  astray?  Jesus 
made  answer.  Take  the  nether  stone 
of  the  mill,  not  the  hand  mill,  but  the 
mill  turned  by  the  ox  in  his  endless  rounds; 
let  the  place  of  execution  be  the  open  sea, 
not  the  sea  near  the  shore,  but  out  where 
it  has  depths.  Let  the  great  stone  be 
tethered  to  his  neck  and  he,  disgraced 
and  forfeit  of  life  and  hope,  be  cast  over¬ 
board;  yet  even  this  is  not  penalty  equal 
to  the  crime.  Forgiving  those  who  sin 
against  him  as  he  has  bidden  us  forgive 
those  who  sin  against  us,  can  he  or  we. 


82  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


forgive  those  who  sin  against  child¬ 
hood? 

Each  baby  citizen  of  the  Kingdom  has 
a  sacred  right  to  a  proper  training  of  his 
infant  powers.  Behind  the  blinking  eyes 
is  mind  yet  in  embryo,  but  potential  of 
subtle  grasp  and  endless  expansion.  Within 
the  breast  is  a  spirit,  but  the  candle  there 
is  as  yet  unlighted  and  an  altar  that  has 
known  no  sacrifice.  Our  Revolutionary 
fathers  took  up  the  sword  in  defense  of 
the  right  of  every  man  to  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Claiming  it  for 
themselves,  can  they  deny  the  right  to 
the  weakest  among  them?  If  to  us  be¬ 
longs  the  right  to  come  to  our  best  polit¬ 
ically,  shall  we  be  backward  in  allowing 
it  to  our  feeblest,  as  to  the  whole  of  life? 
We  may  do  it,  but  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
does  not.  The  debt  which  the  generation 
passing  away  owes  for  what  it  received  is 
a  debt  to  the  generation  that  is  coming. 
Let  parents  and  guardians,  legislators 
and  judges,  hear  the  voice  that  like 
rolling  thunder  comes  echoing  down  the 
centuries — “Feed  my  lambs.”  O,  Peter, 
was  it  because  you  represent  the  organ- 


CITIZENS  BY  BIRTH 


83 


ized  Church  of  Christ  that  the  command 
was  addressed  to  you?  Have  a  care  lest 
busy  with  your  nets  and  fish,  your  lust 
for  the  seat  on  the  right  hand  and  the 
left  hand  in  the  Kingdom — your  denomi¬ 
national  rivalries  and  contentions  about 
creeds  and  ordinances — you  forget  to  put 
in  the  forefront  of  your  duties  the  care 
of  childhood. 

Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Kingdom  of  rainbows  and  flowers  and 
sunshine,  of  smiles  and  laughter,  of  simple 
faith  and  unquestioning  love,  of  tears  but 
only  like  May  showers,  and  of  beauty  that 
needs  no  adorning.  Jesus  was  in  this 
kingdom,  but  he  was  also  in  the  world. 
There  he  was  in  an  atmosphere  of  sus¬ 
picion,  meeting  with  crafty  men,  who, 
pretending  one  thing,  had  something  dif¬ 
ferent  in  the  hinterland  of  the  mind,  out 
of  harmony  with  him  and  his  message,  if 
not  entirely  hostile.  How  refreshing  to 
turn  to  this  kingdom  of  childhood,  where 
the  citizens  were  without  prejudice  or  bias, 
without  malice  or  guile,  with  no  pride  of 
learning  or  pretense  of  sanctity,  without 
affectation  or  self-consciousness,  without 


84  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


covetousness,  yet  with  ships  at  sea  sail¬ 
ing  for  their  harbor,  with  no  past,  but  a 
limitless  future,  with  no  possessions  at 
present,  but  boundless  hopes  for  the 
future!  Doff  your  hat  to  the  dignitary 
who  rides  forth  in  his  baby-cart  chariot, 
or  sleeps  in  his  royal  trundle  bed,  who 
swings  in  his  hammock  under  the  dark 
trees  of  an  African  forest  or  from  his 
mother’s  back  as  she  toils  in  the  rice 
field.  “Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 
Yet  there  are  others  of  whom  we  must 
now  speak. 


CHAPTER  XI 


CITIZENS  BY  NATURALIZATION 

“Toward  it  one  journeyeth  not  in  ships,  nor  in 
chariots,  nor  on  foot;  for  to  journey  thither,  nay 
even  to  arrive  there,  is  nothing  else  but  to  will  to 
go.” — Augustine. 

The  gates  of  the  Kingdom  swing  out 
as  well  as  in.  Free  will  in  man  is  God’s 
gift  and  the  Giver  respects  his  gift.  He 
forces  no  one  to  enter;  he  prevents  no  one 
from  going  out.  We  are  familiar  enough 
with  the  fact  that  many,  blinded  and 
deceived,  barter  away  their  birthright  in 
the  Kingdom,  renounce  their  citizenship, 
and  depart  for  the  far  country.  The 
prodigal  son  and  the  apostate  Judas 
appear  and  reappear  in  the  history  of 
every  village.  Though  they  dwell  in  tents 
pitched  toward  Sodom,  there  remain  faint 
memories  of  an  Eden  where  they  once 
lived,  which  are  kept  alive  by  a  rosy  tint 
on  the  horizon  toward  childhood.  For 
this  reason,  or  because  of  world-nausea, 

85 


86  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


heart-hunger,  home-sickness,  or  because 
the  time  comes 

“When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 
Turns  again  home,” 

some  of  those  who  went  away  return. 
This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  the 
reentrance  into  the  Kingdom  of  those  who 
have  turned  their  backs  upon  it.  Jesus 
said  they  may  not  enter  again  by  the 
Birth  Gate,  but  there  remains  the  Gate  of 
Repentance;  they  may  enter  there.  He 
taught  that  without  repentance  one  could 
not  enter  or  even  see  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  From  beginning  to  end  repent¬ 
ance  was  in  the  forefront  of  all  his  teach¬ 
ing.  The  word  “repentance”  is  clear-cut 
as  a  diamond.  It  will  not  admit  of  mysti¬ 
cal  speculations  nor  theological  juggleries. 
Jesus  urged  men  to  repent  and  upbraided 
them  because  they  did  not  repent.  That 
makes  of  repentance  something  that  may 
be  understood  without  calling  in  a  theolog¬ 
ical  doctor,  and  done  without  waiting  for 
extraneous  aid.  It  is  the  exercise  of  the 
highest  because  the  executive  faculty — 
the  will.  The  passions  may  rage,  the 


NATURALIZATION 


87 


carnal  mind  demand,  the  intellect  for- 
bode,  the  flesh  urge;  the  will  as  the  su¬ 
preme  judge  in  the  supreme  court  of  man 
may  overrule  and  decide  against  them  all. 
Repentance  respects  the  decision  of  this 
supreme  court  concerning  righteousness. 
In  its  heart  it  is  the  decision  of  the  will 
to  break  once  and  forever  with  evil  in  the 
heart  and  life.  The  forerunner  of  the 
Messiah,  who  preached  nothing  but  re¬ 
pentance,  urged  that  genuine  repentance 
involved  renouncing  at  once  and  forever 
the  besetting  sin.  The  soldier  must  give 
up  his  violence  and  false  accusation,  those 
living  in  selfish  ease  must  share  their 
coats  and  meat  with  the  destitute,  the 
rulers  must  abandon  extortion.  It  must 
be  done  deliberately,  absolutely,  and  in 
utmost  sincerity.  ‘T  will,”  men  say  as 
they  take  the  oath  of  office,  “I  will”  they 
say  at  the  marriage  altar,  “I  will”  they 
repeat  on  the  witness  stand.  It  is  the 
same  “I  will”  they  must  use  to  their 
Maker  concerning  the  law  of  righteous¬ 
ness.  The  human  act  is  but  one  half 
the  hinge  on  which  the  door  of  destiny 
turns.  The  decision  made,  they  would 


88  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


then  learn  that  when  a  soul  anywhere 
on  God’s  earth  and  in  any  age  becomes 
conscious  of  sin  as  manifest  in  specific 
acts  or  a  course  of  life,  and  resolves  to 
break  with  it  forever,  the  human  resolve 
meets  with  the  forgiving  Spirit  of  God 
and  from  the  union  issues  repentance 
which  on  the  one  side  is  a  human  pur¬ 
pose,  and  on  the  other  an  act  of  God,  the 
visible  sign  of  which  is  likely  to  be  a  few 
bitter-sweet  tears.  It  may  be  but  par¬ 
tially  understood  or  seemingly  trivial,  but 
is  as  vital  to  the  future  life  as  is  the  meet¬ 
ing,  in  the  shut-in  chamber  of  an  auto¬ 
mobile,  of  a  drop  of  gasoline  and  an 
electric  spark  from  whose  union  emerges 
power  to  climb  the  hill  and  lift  the  load. 
Is  repentance  of  man?  It  could  not  be 
without  God.  Is  it  of  God?  It  could 
not  be  without  man.  Is  it  regeneration? 
Jesus  did  not  name  it.  Is  it  once  for  all 
in  the  life?  It  is  for  this  day  and  hour 
only.  Henceforth  it  is  a  lifelong  holding 
of  the  helm  of  the  will  toward  the  North 
Star  of  righteousness.  Because  repentance 
is  a  solemn  decision  in  the  supreme  court 
of  the  entire  man  it  is  more  vital  than 


NATURALIZATION 


89 


raptures,  visions,  ecstasies,  halleluiahs,  or 
visits  like  that  of  Paul  to  the  third  heaven 
or  that  of  Dante  to  the  lowest  hell.  Its 
value,  like  the  currency  of  a  bankrupt 
country,  has  been  depreciated  to  mean 
penitence  and  that  to  involve  the  per¬ 
formance  of  a  few  extra-churchly  duties, 
or  the  manifestation  of  a  few  spasms  of 
fear  of  judgment  to  come.  Jesus  taught 
that,  especially  for  him  who  had  long 
lived  a  selfish  life,  repentance  was  the 
hardest  task  he  ever  had  or  would  en¬ 
counter;  that  in  some  cases  it  was  im¬ 
possible.  The  gate  of  repentance,  as 
Jesus  saw  it,  was  not  like  Ghiberti’s 
Doors,  a  dream  of  artists,  or  like  the 
Brandenberg  Gates,  for  the  entrance  of 
conquerors.  It  was  narrow;  the  portal 
was  low.  One  who  entered  might  expect 
to  touch  garments  with  publicans  and 
harlots,  to  be  one  of  a  procession,  not  of 
merrymakers,  but  of  those  who,  in  sack¬ 
cloth  and  ashes,  smote  their  breasts  say¬ 
ing,  “God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner.” 
He  must  leave  his  foolish  pride  behind 
and  stoop  and  stoop  again  and  lower 
still.  He  must  learn  as  he  sees  smoke 


90  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


ascending  from  the  valley  of  Gehenna 
beside  the  gate,  that  it  is  the  smoke  of 
the  burning  idols  of  those  who  surrendered 
them  to  be  burned  before  they  could 
enter.  “Repentance  an  easy  task”!  Did 
ever  lips  utter  words  more  untrue?  Did 
the  rich  young  man  of  the  gospel  find 
it  so?  He  had  kept  the  commandments. 
He  bowed  before  Jesus,  desiring  to  attain 
to  that  something  beyond  the  command¬ 
ments  which  he  saw  was  the  Kingdom 
which  he  preached.  Jesus  saw  his  sin¬ 
cerity  and  loved  him.  But  there,  occupy¬ 
ing  the  chief  place  in  his  heart,  was  a  grim 
idol.  He  saw  how,  in  spite  of  hunger  of 
soul,  Mammon  ruled.  Love  of  wealth 
was  an  oak  with  roots  so  deep  and  far 
reaching  in  his  soul  that  it  must  and 
would  live,  however  it  might  fare  with 
the  flowers  growing  on  the  surface.  Jesus 
saw  that  for  him  only  uprooting  the 
tree  would  avail.  “Go  and  sell  all  that 
thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor  and  follow 
me.”  This  was  the  price  of  repentance 
for  him.  He  was  very  sorrowful,  but 
went  away,  and  we  look  in  vain  for  his 
name  among  the  early  Christians  or  in 


NATURALIZATION 


91 


the  number  of  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  in  the  upper  room.  “It  is  easier 
for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  Yet  a  camel 
may  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  but 
only  when  his  body  is  reduced  to  its 
primal  elements.  This  even  is  easier  than 
for  a  man,  into  whose  soul  the  love  of 
riches  has  entered  and  grown  till  it  mas¬ 
tered  and  used  in  the  service  of  Mammon 
every  faculty  of  his  being,  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

Nor  did  Herod  find  repentance  easy. 
He  was  on  the  road  to  the  Kingdom, 
perhaps  not  far  from  it.  He  was  a  devout 
man  and  attended  the  preaching  of  John 
and  did  many  things  and  heard  him 
gladly.  In  his  path  stood  a  woman  vain, 
revengeful,  and  beautiful  and  with  a 
strange  power  over  him.  Through  her 
influence  he  put  away  his  lawful  wife, 
angered  his  brother,  and  estranged  his 
friends.  To  repent  meant  to  sever  the 
sinful  tie,  to  array  the  woman  in  her 
wounded  pride  among  his  enemies.  It 
meant  to  make  a  journey  back  over  the 


92  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


past,  to  right  the  many  wrongs  that  were 
there.  It  would  be  regarded,  and  would 
be,  a  confession  of  spiritual  bankruptcy 
and  of  moral  breakdown.  Would  the  road 
through  a  needle’s  eye  seem  more  difficult 
than  the  road  to  the  Kingdom  through 
so  narrow  a  way  as  that?  He  may  have 
done  many  things  after  this,  but  repent¬ 
ance  was  not  one  of  them.  By  his  situa¬ 
tion  and  influence  his  might  have  been 
a  chief  name  in  the  early  church,  but  no 
list  extant  contains  it. 

Nicodemus  was  at  one  time  as  near  the 
Kingdom  as  Herod.  He  had  no  such 
past  to  fight  as  had  Herod.  In  place  of 
that  he  had  the  spiritual  and  churchly 
pride  of  the  men  of  his  rank.  When  he 
saw  what  repentance  involved  he  drew 
back.  Could  he  give  up  being  pointed 
out  in  the  streets  and  greeted  as  rabbi? 
Could  he  endure  no  longer  to  be  given 
a  chief  seat  at  the  feast  and  to  be  admired 
as  he  prayed  at  the  corner  of  the  streets, 
or  put  his  numerous  and  sonorous  gifts 
in  the  trumpet-mouthed  collection  chests? 
Could  he  endure  to  hear  the  taunting  cry, 
“Renegade!”  which  must  often  greet  him 


NATURALIZATION 


93 


if  he  obeyed  the  voice  of  his  conscience? 
To  his  own  thinking  he  could  not,  at  least 
he  did  not.  Before  the  Sanhedrin,  in 
timid  fashion  he  defended  Jesus  only  on 
the  ground  that  the  Jews  should  not 
break  one  of  their  own  laws.  When 
Joseph  of  Arimathsea  had  led  the  way  in 
asking  the  body  of  Jesus,  he  joined 
in  making  preparations  for  the  burial* 
Of  repentance  there  is  nothing.  Why 
was  Jesus  so  urgent  at  this  point?  “Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  “Strive 
to  enter  in.”  Why  did  he  say  that  only 
by  an  earnestness  amounting  to  “violence” 
could  they  hope  to  enter?  It  was  because 
the  road  of  repentance  is  a  rough  and 
thorny  one,  and  the  way  thither,  like  the 
passage  of  the  bridge  A1  Sirat,  “sharp  as 
a  scimitar’s  edge.”  When  Divine  Mercy 
opens  the  gate  to  a  mortal  and  says  to 
him,  “Come  in,”  and  he,  in  the  exercise  of 
the  God-given  power  to  dispose  of  himself, 
says,  “I  will,”  he  has  done  the  greatest 
thing  that  falls  to  him  from  the  first  lisp 
of  babyhood  to  his  nunc  dimittis. 

The  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus  has 
been  construed  to  be  the  pulling  aside  of 


94  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


the  curtain  that  hides  from  our  view  the 
unseen  world.  So  viewed,  it  adds  nothing 
to  the  view  commonly  held  among  the 
Jews  in  the  days  of  our  Lord.  The  parable 
is  really  concerned  with  this  life  and 
specifically  with  the  reluctance  with  which 
men  listen  to  the  call  to  repentance. 
Such  was  the  case  with  the  five  brethren 
of  Dives  who  were  living  on  the  earth 
the  same  sensual,  selfish  lives  their  brother 
had  lived  before  them  and  were  likely 
to  come  to  the  same  unhappy  end.  To  the 
assertion  of  Dives  that  his  brothers  would 
repent  if  one  went  to  them  from  the  dead 
— a  long  absent  mother  perhaps,  a  wife, 
or  child — Abraham  answers,  “No,  not  even 
if  one  went  unto  them  from  the  dead, 
they  would  not  repent.”  Thorny  as  is 
the  path  of  repentance,  some  in  every 
age  have  passed  along  it  into  the  King¬ 
dom  to  whom  we  in  these  more  favored 
times  give  all  honor.  Still  it  shall  ever 
be  that  “we  must  with  much  tribulation 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 


CHAPTER  XII 


CITIZENS  AT  LARGE 

“Doubtless  thou  art  our  father,  though  Abraham 
be  ignorant  of  us,  and  Israel  acknowledge  us  not.” 
— Isaiah. 

The  world  outside  the  pale  of  the 
gospel  is  greatly  the  debtor  of  Chris¬ 
tianity.  It  has  also  suffered  from  the 
narrowness  and  bigotry  of  the  followers 
of  the  Nazarene.  On  missionary  maps 
the  pagan  world  is  shown  in  deepest  black 
and,  with  equal  error,  Christian  lands 
are  represented  in  spotless  white.  In 
mistaken  zeal  for  Jesus  and  his  teach¬ 
ings,  non-Christian  lands  and  eras  have 
been  represented  as  moral  deserts,  barren 
spiritual  stretches  of  heaving  ocean  brine, 
or  polar  wastes  where  the  sun  scarce 
pierces  the  mist  through  a  short  day,  and 
then  hides  himself  for  a  long,  long  night. 
One  might  infer  that  “flowers,  green  fields, 
fruits  and  running  brooks  are  only  to  be 
found  in  association  with  Christmases, 
Sundays,  Christian  song,  and  Bible  study. 

95 


96  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


This  artificial  division  of  the  earth  peoples 
is  alien  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  The  so- 
called  heathen  are  not  all  depraved,  nor 
are  the  visible  followers  of  Christ  all 
saints.  In  privilege  and  opportunity  the 
races  differ  greatly,  in  ideals  and  strug¬ 
gles  for  spiritual  betterment  less,  and  in 
the  love  and  care  of  the  All-Father  not  at 
all.  The  earth’s  surface  on  the  map  is 
divided  into  hemispheres  by  the  equator, 
which  is  represented  by  a  band  girdling 
the  ocean.  The  traveler  finds  no  such 
line,  the  ocean  north  and  south  scorning 
such  a  division.  He  may  discover  the 
equator  lying  prone  upon  the  water  as 
soon  as  find  recognition  of  the  division 
of  mankind  into  a  favored  and  a  neglected 
race. 

Among  the  things  that  are  inherent 
in  man,  wherever  and  whenever  found, 
are  the  existence  of  a  religious  faculty 
and  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

“Take  comfort;  earth  is  full  of  sin. 

But  also  full  of  God.” 

“The  grace  of  God  hath  appeared  to  all 
men.”  It  is  not  a  breeze  from  heaven 


CITIZENS  AT  LARGE 


97 


that  stops  short  and  retraces  its  course 
as  it  nears  a  non-Christian  land,  or  a 
river  that  turns  in  its  bed  and  flows  back¬ 
ward  at  the  sight  of  a  pagoda  or  a  temple 
of  idolatry.  It  blows,  it  flows  on,  it 
abounds — grace  at  least — much  more  then, 
not  less.  Where  this  is  the  case  who  does 
not  know  that  some  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
must  be  found?  Especially  must  this  be 
in  all  the  East  where,  as  has  often  been 
observed,  men  have  not  only  a  full-sized 
capacity,  but  a  genius,  for  religion.  Where 
religion  means  more  and  sin  and  guilt  are 
weightier  words  than  in  the  West,  there 
must  be  some  who  have,  as  wrote  Augus¬ 
tine,  “the  will  to  go”  and  where  this  is 
the  case,  there  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 
This  brings  into  the  Kingdom  a  third 
class,  which  we  call  Citizens  at  Large. 
Our  justification  for  this  classification  is 
the  four  Gospels  and  the  specific  discovery 
of  Peter  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per¬ 
sons  and  IN  EVERY  NATION  HE  THAT 
FEARETH  GoD  AND  WORKETH  RIGHTEOUS¬ 
NESS  is  accepted  of  him.  Acceptance 
with  God  is  impossible  save  on  the  con¬ 
dition  of  submission  to  his  law  of  right- 


I 


98  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

f 

eousness.  Having  no  law,  he  is  amenable 
to  the  law  within  his  own  breast.  The 
struggle  with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil  in  himself  until  he  has  reached 
“the  will  to  go"  is  not  one  whit  other 
in  Bombay  than  in  Boston.  The  way  in 
each  is  straight  and  the  gate  narrow. 
One,  being  better  instructed,  passes 
through  in  the  daylight,  the  other  by 
night.  They  are  alike  fellow  citizens  with 
the  saints.  To  the  immediate  followers  of 
Jesus  it  was  a  stumbling-block  that  he 
found  outside  their  nation  those  to  whom 
he  was  attracted  and  with  whose  spirit 
he  found  fellowship.  Such  was  a  woman 
of  mixed  Greek  and  Tyrean  origin  whose 
beautiful  faith  and  devotion  to  her 
daughter  was  a  bright  star  shining  through 
a  rift  in  the  cloud  in  a  dark  night.  In 
Capernaum  the  one  of  all  others  to  whom 
he  was  drawn  was  captain  at  the  mil¬ 
itary  post  of  that  district.  Though  a 
Roman,  the  people  said  “he  loveth  our 
nation”;  of  another  religion,  they  told 
that  he  had  built  them  a  synagogue;  a 
man  of  authority,  yet  he  was  greatly 
concerned  about  a  sick  servant;  an  idol- 


CITIZENS  AT  LARGE 


99 


ater  perhaps,  he  had  great  faith  in  Christ. 
We  can  read  into  the  account  the  soul 
struggle,  sometime,  somewhere,  by  which 
he  came  to  “the  will  to  go.”  To  those 
whose  sympathies  were  limited  by  the 
bounds  of  their  own  nation,  Jesus  said, 
“Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this 
fold.”  He  expressly  claimed  the  patri¬ 
archs,  who  never  knew  him,  as  citizens  of 
his  Kingdom.  In  a  chapter  which  has 
been  called  the  Westminster  Abbey  of 
the  early  church,  Paul  mentions  a  score 
of  those  who  were  especially  endeared  to 
him.  The  names  are  largely  Greek, 
Roman,  and  Syrian.  He  was  drawn  to 
them  because  their  spirit  was  so  akin  to 
his.  He  doubtless  found  many  of  them 
in  the  Kingdom  needing  only  to  be  made 
acquainted  with  the  King.  To  be  saved 
by  Christ  and  to  be  saved  by  faith  in 
Christ  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing. 
Not  a  few  of  those  who  through  repent¬ 
ance  know  of  the  working  of  the  Spirit 
do  not  yet  know  the  source  of  their  regen¬ 
erated  lives.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  free, 
working  where  and  as  he  will,  and  one 
must  believe  that  that  Spirit,  wherever 


100  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


found,  is  the  channel  through  which  divine 
and  saving  truth  has  been  conveyed. 

“A  Socrates,  a  Plato,  a  Sakya-Muni” 
writes  a  canon  of  Westminster,  “had 
reared  their  altars  to  the  unknown  God; 
these  too  were  enabled  to  shed  some 
light  on  the  darkness  of  sin  and  sorrow 
because  they  had  kindled  their  torches  at 
the  sun  of  righteousness  and  drawn  some 
sparks  of  light  from  the  torch  held  aloft 
by  Him  who  is  both  life  and  light.” 

“Whence,”  asks  Archdeacon  Farrar, 
“got  Buddha  his  purity,  or  Aristides  his 
justice,  or  Epicurus  his  Puritanic  virtue, 
or  Cicero  his  search  after  immortality, 
save  from  the  same  source  as  did  Isaiah 
or  Samuel  or  John  the  Baptist  or  Paul?” 
Justin  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  allow 
that  some  of  the  pagan  philosophers  must 
have  been  instructed  by  the  Logos.  Who 
can  read  the  autobiography  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  in  which  he  portrays  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  his  father  and  his  tutor,  coupled 
with  a  remembrance  that  the  mind  of  the 
flesh  never  gives  way  to  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit  without  a  struggle,  without  being 
convinced  that  the  three  were  at  least 


CITIZENS  AT  LARGE 


101 


not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven? 
Howard  S.  Bliss,  president  of  the  Syrian 
College  at  Beirut,  was  born  and  had  spent 
most  of  his  life  in  a  non-Christian  country 
before  he  wrote:  “The  missionary  discovers 
with  a  new  humility  that  with  very  much 
to  give  he  has  not  a  little  to  receive  from 
men  of  other  faiths;  the  mystical  element, 
so  prominent  in  Eastern  religions,  a  be¬ 
coming  reticence  in  presence  of  the  great 
mysteries  of  life,  a  sense  of  the  nearness 
of  God,  a  recognition  of  the  importance 
of  religion.”  From  a  hospital  in  Peking 
Dr.  Yu  Shu-Fen,  a  young  Chinese  phy¬ 
sician,  sent  this  farewell  message  to  his 
friend:  “In  my  enthusiasm  for  plague 
prevention  I  overstepped  the  bounds  of 
caution  and  in  my  constant  contact  with 
plague  patients  I  accidentally  contracted 
the  disease.  I  am  dying  for  the  people. 
I  make  no  complaint.”  With  all  that 
Jesus  taught  in  mind  can  we  doubt  that 
he  would  say,  “Of  such  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven”?  “All  are  ready  to  say  if 
any  man  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ 
he  is  none  of  his;  too  often  the  corollary 
that  if  a  man  have  the  spirit  of  Christ 


102  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


he  is  his  is  overlooked.”  By  the  discovery 
of  the  Pacific,  Balboa  mightily  extended 
the  bounds  of  the  ocean  world.  Making 
known  the  citizenship  of  childhood  and 
of  those  who  in  every  nation  feared  God 
and  wrought  righteousness,  Jesus  did  a 
like  work  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

“ I  see,”  says  Emerson,  “that  sensible 
and  conscientious  men  all  over  the  world 
were  of  one  religion — the  religion  of  well¬ 
doing  and  daring,  men  of  sturdy  truth,  men 
of  integrity  and  feeling  for  others.  My 
inference  is  that  there  is  a  statement  of 
religion  possible  which  makes  all  skep¬ 
ticism  absurd.” 


CHAPTER  XIII 


WHEREFORE  A  KINGDOM? 

“He  who  is  near  me  is  near  the  fire;  He  who  is 
far  from  me  is  far  from  the  Kingdom.” — Anon. 

Jesus  did  nothing  for  himself.  His 
thought  was  always  of  his  younger  and 
weaker  brothers  to  whom  he  would  act 
an  elder  brother’s  part.  They  were  sheep 
in  a  country  that  was  wolf-infested. 
They  were  the  good  seed,  but  the  soil 
was  thin  and  rocky  and  beset  by  hungry 
birds.  The  world  in  which  they  must 
live  had  only  twilight  and  their  eyes 
were  dim  and  the  path  sometimes  but  a 
desert  trail.  For  these  whom  he  called 
“my  sheep,”  “my  friends,”  “my  chil¬ 
dren,”  “my  father,  my  mother  and  my 
brethren,”  was  the  Kingdom  made  ready. 
The  earnest  appeal  of  Jesus  that  men 
strive  to  enter  the  Kingdom,  the  prayer 
of  Paul  that  he  might  be  preserved  unto 
the  Kingdom,  and  the  congratulation  of 
John  the  aged  that  he  and  his  brethren 
and  companions  were  in  the  Kingdom, 

103 


104  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


would  be  meaningless  if  the  Kingdom 
served  no  worthy  end  in  the  life  of  the 
individual.  It  is  not  essential  that  we 
should  know  how  this  result  was  to  be 
accomplished,  yet  we  cannot  refrain  from 
asking,  though  we  cannot  fully  answer, 
the  question.  A  matter  it  is  of  importance 
in  applied  Christianity  that  men  should 
come  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  presence 
of  God.  One  may  hold  to  the  omni¬ 
presence  of  God  as  an  article  of  the  creed, 
without  a  realizing  sense  of  its  truth  as 
an  experience  of  the  heart.  Brother  Law¬ 
rence,  a  cook  in  a  monastery  of  Europe, 
a  man  long  since  dead,  attained  to  fame 
that  reaches  our  day,  as  one  who  claimed 
to  realize  and  practice  what  he  called  “the 
presence  of  Deity.”  His  fame  attests 
the  rarity  of  the  experience.  The  enor¬ 
mously  greater  universe  which  science  has 
given  us  puts  God  so  far  away  that  to  all 
but  pure  reason  he  is  lost  in  the  stellar 
spaces  of  an  infinitely  extended  creation. 
Can  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  any  measure 
bring  him  back?  Jesus  announced  the 
establishment  of  his  kingdom  on  the 
earth.  He  encouraged  men  to  think  of 


WHEREFORE  A  KINGDOM?  105 


him  as  Lord  of  this  kingdom,  seated  upon 
its  throne,  and  filling  it  with  his  presence. 
We  do  not  deny  the  omnipresence  of 
Deity  when  we  emphasize  his  presence  in 
his  kingdom.  For  aught  we  know,  his 
special  presence  may  be  manifest  in  any 
or  every  other  world.  But  he  is  here. 
He  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  “Lo, 
I  am  with  you  always,”  he  said.  Paul 
wrote  to  his  brethren,  “Let  your  modera¬ 
tion  be  known  to  all  men;  the  Lord  is 
close  by.”  Can  we  doubt  that  one  who 
accepted  this  presence  as  a  fact  would 
at  first  visualize  and  then  realize  the 
presence  of  Deity?  Christianity  in  the 
first  century  is  a  sufficient  answer.  To 
the  Christians  of  that  day  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  had  surely  come.  With  the 
Kingdom  came  the  King.  With  both 
came  the  fulfillment  of  the  ancient  proph¬ 
ecy,  “I  will  dwell  in  them  and  walk  in 
them,  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people.”  Those  were  peril¬ 
ous  times,  but  the  martyr  fires  that  lit 
up  the  cities  were  no  brighter  than  the 
faces  of  the  heroes  whose  spirits  ascended 
through  them,  illumined  by  the  same 


106  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


presence  that  glorified  the  face  of  Moses 
when  he  came  down  from  the  mount. 

To  bring  back  the  fellowship  of  the 
saints  that  marked  the  early  history  of 
the  Kingdom  is  much  to  be  desired. 
Fellowship  is  strength.  The  lone  tree 
goes  down  before  the  tempest,  while  the 
clump  of  trees  and  the  forest  stand.  The 
lone  sentinel  quails  before  danger,  but 
give  him  his  company  and  regiment  and 
he  is  fearless.  In  this  matter  twice  one 
is  not  two  but  ten.  The  genuine  ca¬ 
maraderie  of  the  Christians  of  the  first 
century  is  as  unquestioned  as  its  source. 
A  member  of  a  modern  church  asked  his 
pastor  to  explain  the  expression  “the 
communion  of  saints.”  In  his  considerable 
experience  he  had  apparently  not  met 
with  any.  All  admit  that  the  goodly 
fellowship  of  the  saints  might  be  goodlier. 
Among  Christians  there  is  “a  tie  that 
binds,”  but  it  is  not  firm  enough  to  be 
felt,  or  positive  enough  to  comfort,  or 
strong  enough  to  rescue  in  a  flood  of 
temptation.  The  need  we  have 

“To  lean  on  others  as  we  walk 

Life’s  evening  path  with  pitfalls  strewn** 


WHEREFORE  A  KINGDOM?  107 


is  shown  by  the  multiplication  of  societies 
proposing  as  an  end  some  form  of  benev¬ 
olence,  but  really  based  on  fellowship. 
Stronger  than  these  is  the  tie  of  a  com¬ 
mon  country.  “My  fellow  countryman” 
is  an  appellation  big  with  meaning  to 
both  savage  and  civilized  man.  The  call 
to  go  or  do  or  sacrifice  based  on  the  need 
or  peril  of  a  countryman  is  not  in  vain. 
How  many  by  business  or  destiny  exiles 
in  a  foreign  land  know  what  it  means 
to  strain  tired  eyes  for  a  glimpse  of  the 
ship  that  brings  letters  from  home;  or, 
in  a  foreign  port,  are  thrilled  at  the  sight 
of  even  the  most  lubberly  craft  that  bears 
at  the  masthead  the  flag  of  their  country; 
or  stop  short  in  the  street  to  note  which 
one  in  the  crowd  had  used  a  word  of 
their  mother  tongue.  This  tie,  written 
into  the  constitution  of  man,  Jesus  called 
to  a  higher  service.  Those  who  accept 
him  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners 
but  citizens  of  his  kingdom  and  fellow 
citizens  of  the  saints.  Fellowship  in  insti¬ 
tutions  of  this  world  are  often  disap¬ 
pointing  and  always  inadequate;  in  world 
kingdoms,  because  of  the  imperfections 


108  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


of  human  laws  and  the  injustice  of  rulers; 
in  the  church,  because  of  class  distinc¬ 
tions  and  the  unfortunate  divisions  of 
Christendom;  in  human  organizations,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  many  foibles  of  human 
nature.  Fellowship  in  the  Kingdom  and 
patience  of  Christ  remains  as  that  which 
can  best  realize  a  tie  that  binds  sufficient 
for  life’s  struggles,  its  sorrow  and  its  work. 
Only  in  the  Kingdom  can  one  feel  in  full 
measure  the  thrill  of  realization  that  he 
is  “surrounded  by  so  great  a  cloud  of 
witnesses”  that  he  can  never  more  feel 
he  is  standing  alone. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  the  tasks  of 
life  it  is  also  necessary  that  there  should 
be  a  hopeful  future.  If  death  ends  all, 
then  one  may  as  well  lay  off  the  harness 
and  abandon  the  task.  Uncertainty  con¬ 
cerning  the  hereafter  is  equally  dishearten¬ 
ing.  Not  Moses  only,  but  we  all,  endure 
when  we  see,  or  think  we  see,  the  Invis¬ 
ible.  But  how  shall  this  vision  be  ours? 
When  our  wisest  and  best  have  sent 
forth  despairing  appeals  toward  the  beyond 
for  even  the  slightest  tokens  that  their 
beloved  dead  still  live,  and  for  a  response 


WHEREFORE  A  KINGDOM?  109 


have  heard  only  the  echo  of  their  own 
voices,  can  we  hope  for  even  partial 
knowledge,  much  less  for  certainty?  Jesus 
affirmed  that  we  might  know  even  to  the 
point  that  our  hearts  should  not  be 
troubled.  In  his  gospel  he  tells  how  this 
may  be.  Let  one  enter  by  the  lowly  door 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Let  him  become 
acquainted  with  the  King  and  absorb 
into  his  life  the  spirit  of  the  Kingdom. 
As  to  a  voyager  by  sea  there  appears  on 
the  horizon  a  gray  shadow  which  rapidly 
becomes  a  mainland,  there  comes  into  his 
consciousness  the  assurance  and  the  spir¬ 
itual  vision  of  a  country  and  a  life  beyond. 
The  source  of  this  knowledge  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  should  he  subsequently  be 
faithless  to  duty  and  false  to  the  King, 
the  vision  fades  away  into  the  shadow 
and  the  black  fog  of  doubt  shuts  down 
upon  him. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


METHODS  OF  THE  KINGDOM 

“And  when  we  looked  for  crowns  to  fall 
We  find  the  tug’s  to  come — that’s  all.” 

— Browning . 

The  place  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  life 
of  the  individual  still  claims  our  atten¬ 
tion.  In  the  thought  of  Jesus  those  who 
entered  his  kingdom  were  children  even 
though  in  the  world  they  were  greeted  as 
“Rabbi.”  They  had  everything  to  learn 
and  some  of  them  nearly  as  much  to  un¬ 
learn.  After  their  vision  of  the  new  life 
they  must  translate  it  into  character  and 
conduct.  At  the  same  time  they  must 
carry  on  the  struggle  for  the  extension 
of  the  Kingdom,  spending  life  with  the 
sword  in  one  hand  and  the  trowel  in  the 
other.  The  Kingdom  aims  to  aid  in  all 
these  particulars.  Erroneous  ideas  as  to 
the  nature  of  salvation  and  the  way  by 
which  it  may  be  attained  render  the  work 
difficult.  Some  are  slow  in  learning  that 
packing  a  satchel  for  a  long  journey  is 

110 


METHODS 


111 


not  equivalent  to  reaching  the  journey’s 
end,  nor  buckling  on  the  armor  reason 
for  commencing  the  shout  of  victory. 
To  mistake  the  peace  of  repentance  for 
the  possession  of  a  Christian  character 
is  to  mistake  matriculation  at  the  uni¬ 
versity  for  a  diploma  and  a  finished  edu¬ 
cation.  The  student  may  enter  the  uni¬ 
versity  and  the  immigrant  the  country  by 
a  short  and  easy  way,  but  to  get  the 
university  into  the  student  and  the  spirit 
and  ideals  of  the  country  into  the  for¬ 
eigner  is  a  long  and  laborious  process. 
The  word  “salvation”  may  be  defined 
from  two  standpoints.  It  is  first  a  work 
done  for  us  by  Christ  through  whose 
death  there  is  extended  to  the  sinner  the 
grace  of  pardon.  This  salvation  is  only 
potential  and  becomes  actual  by  the 
repentance  of  the  individual.  Salvation 
is  also,  to  use  the  words  of  Channing, 
“to  be  rescued  from  moral  evil,  from  error 
and  sin,  from  the  diseases  of  the  mind 
and  to  be  restored  to  inward  truth,  piety, 
and  virtue.”  In  salvation,  according  to 
the  first  definition,  man  has  no  part,  but 
according  to  the  second  definition  he  has 


112  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


a  first  and  vital  part.  He  can  lay  hold, 
he  can  welcome,  he  can  second  the  work 
of  Jesus,  who,  to  this  end,  is  an  every¬ 
where  present  and  quickening  spirit.  He 
has  over  the  whole  the  veto  power.  While 
this  is  the  case,  it  would  seem  that  em¬ 
phasis  should  be  placed  on  making  what 
is  potential  actual,  which  is  to  center 
attention  on  man’s  part  in  man’s  salva¬ 
tion.  A  glance  at  the  trend  of  doctrinal 
teaching  shows  that  this  is  not  always 
done.  The  foremost  theme  in  the  preach¬ 
ing  of  the  last  generation  was  the  atone¬ 
ment.  The  great  and  glorious  truth  was 
proclaimed  from  Spirit-touched  lips  and 
tongues  of  fire  as  never  before.  It  is  a 
theme  that  can  never  grow  old  or  fail 
to  interest.  Yet  this  must  be  allowed. 
It  is  in  a  realm  in  which  man  cannot  add 
to  or  take  from  or  change  one  iota.  At 
the  end  of  all  preaching  it  remains  an 
amazing  wonder  of  divine  grace.  Mean¬ 
while  in  the  neglected  background  is  the 
practical  truth  that  the  atonement  is  the 
foundation  on  which  each  must  erect  his 
house  of  life.  The  student  who  expends 
in  exulting  that  he  has  a  chance  to 


METHODS 


113 


obtain  an  education  the  time  and  vigor 
he  needs  to  obtain  it,  is  neither  wise  nor 
grateful.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  places 
all  emphasis  on  acceptance  and  utilization 
of  the  offer  of  grace.  Jesus  said  little  about 
his  vicarious  death  for  sin  but  much  about 
his  triumphant  life  and  power  in  behalf 
of  sinners.  The  way  of  the  Kingdom  as 
he  taught  was  the  way  of  the  athlete 
struggling  manfully  in  the  arena,  the  way 
of  the  husbandman  sweaty  with  toil  in 
the  field  through  the  long,  hot  day,  the 
way  of  the  fisherman,  whom  each  new 
morning  as  it  broke  over  the  water,  found 
busy  with  his  nets.  He  would  have  them 
work,  pray,  give,  resist,  strive,  fight,  deny 
self,  pluck  out  right  eyes  and  cut  off 
right  hands,  suffer  and  die  if  need  be. 
It  required  much  self-denial,  it  meant 
habitual  subordination  of  the  lower  to  the 
higher.  The  Kingdom  was  opportunity, 
the  more  precious  because  so  brief. 

It  is  quite  the  custom  to  divide  life 
into  two  parts,  the  part  that  looks  toward 
the  earth  where  we  earn  our  bread  and 
the  part  that  looks  toward  God  by  which 
we  hope  to  gain  heaven.  To  succeed  on 


114  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


the  world  side  of  life,  we  are  told,  one 
must  exert  to  the  utmost  and  continuously 
every  power  of  body  and  mind.  The 
heavenward  side  is  gained  by  faith  and 
prayer.  Jesus  reverses  this  order,  putting 
exertion  and  struggle  for  the  things  of 
the  soul  and  quiet  trust  for  the  things 
of  the  world:  “Labor  not  for  the  meat 
that  perisheth  but  for  that  which  endur- 
eth”;  “Your  heavenly  Father  knoweth 
that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things”; 
“Why  take  ye  thought  for  raiment?” 
“Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God”; 
“Strive  to  enter  in.”  Through  all  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  there  is  a  note  of  trust 
for  the  things  of  this  life  and  of  urge  as 
to  the  things  of  the  Spirit.  It  emphasizes 
salvation  as  the  attainment  of  Christian 
character  and  places  the  responsibility  for 
this  upon  the  individual.  It  would  no 
more  think  of  receiving  this  as  a  gift 
from  God,  save  as  all  things  are  his  gift, 
than  to  expect  proficiency  in  music  or 
the  sciences  in  answer  to  prayer.  But 
one  class  of  educational  institutions  offer 
an  education  on  quick  and  effortless 
terms.  They  may  be  found  through  the 


METHODS 


115 


columns  of  the  dailies  along  with  the  get- 
rich-quick  schemes,  the  cured  after  the 
use  of  three  bottles  method,  or  the  drug- 
less  method  without  even  one.  Paul 
preached  salvation  by  faith,  but  it  was  a 
salvation  that  must  be  “worked  out  with 
fear  and  trembling.”  At  a  first  reading 
of  the  faith  chapter  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  one  sees  the  power  of  God 
working  through  worms  and  clods  of 
earth.  A  closer  study  shows  that  it  was 

Gideon  and  Barak  and  Samson  and 

/ 

Jephthah  and  David  and  Samuel  who, 
through  the  help  of  God,  subdued  king¬ 
doms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained 
promises,  and  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions. 
Nor  does  the  kingdom  of  heaven  hold  out 
promise  of  short  or  easy  victory.  “Work¬ 
ing  out,”  said  the  late  President  Bliss, 
“the  beast  is  no  holiday  jaunt;  the  ape 
and  the  tiger  do  not  readily  die.  One 
cannot  truly  love  God  and  self  and  man, 
one  cannot  put  righteousness,  justice, 
mercy  in  the  forefront  of  life  without  a 
willingness  to  give  up  ease  and  comfort 
and  popularity  and  power.  It  is  a  life 
experience  in  which  step  by  step,  day  by 


116  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


day  and  year  by  year,  we  have  the  happy 
satisfaction  of  knowing  and  feeling  the 
increase  of  moral  and  spiritual  strength.” 
To  publish  salvation  as  a  work  wrought 
out  by  Christ  and  received  once  for  all, 
like  a  legacy,  is  to  present  a  pitiable  half- 
truth  which  easily  becomes  an  excuse  for 
spiritual  sloth.  The  conception  of  progress 
by  growth  seems  ever  in  the  thought  of 
Jesus.  To  describe  this  growing  life  of 
the  soul  in  language  borrowed  from  physi¬ 
cal  dynamics  is  misleading.  A  native  of 
the  polar  regions,  knowing  nothing  of  the 
vegetation  of  the  tropics,  is  led  by  the 
accounts  of  sailors,  who  must  describe 
things  in  the  only  terms  they  know,  to 
think  that  there  is  one  crisal  hour  when 
a  groan  of  mother-earth  proclaims  that 
seeds  in  the  earth  have  burst  their  cover¬ 
ing  and  another  day  when  the  sod  heaves 
and  everywhere  those  long  buried  seeds 
come  forth  from  their  graves,  and  still 
another  day  when  all  together,  with  loud 
acclaim,  they  leap  into  the  maturity  of 
harvest.  He  may  later  think  that  he  was 
deceived  when  he  finds  only  a  silent  and 
gradual  process.  That  which  he  perceives 


METHODS 


117 


is  not  less  wonderful  than  his  former 
thought,  but  more.  The  explosive  power 
of  dynamite  is  a  feeble  thing  compared 
with  the  power  of  life.  Along  such  a  path 
the  citizen  of  the  Kingdom  is  led. 

Jesus  was  a  man  of  the  world.  He 
never  represented  life  in  the  Kingdom  as 
that  of  an  anchorite  in  his  cell.  He  began 
his  work  at  a  marriage  feast.  He  left 
men  in  the  world  where  he  found  them, 
the  steward  busy  with  his  accounts,  the 
housewife  with  her  bread,  the  merchant 
with  his  laden  camels  on  the  way  to  the 
distant  market.  He  would  not  take  his 
people  out  of  the  world  because  they 
needed  the  world.  Without  it  they  would 
be  an  airship  where  there  was  no  atmos¬ 
phere  or  a  steamship  where  was  no  water 
against  which  the  propeller  strove. 

The  more  clearly  we  perceive  that  the 
aim  of  Jesus  was  to  develop  a  vigorous 
manhood,  ennobled  by  a  righteousness  that 
the  world  must  respect,  the  more  we 
have  a  vision  of  his  purpose  in  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  his  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  XV 


HUMAN  ORGANIZATIONS  AND 
THE  HEAVENLY  KINGDOM 

“Distinct  like  the  billows 
Yet  one  like  the  Sea.” 

The  aim  of  the  previous  chapter  was  to 
define  the  relation  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  to  the  individual.  Besides  the 
life  which  each  one  lives  to  himself  and 
God  there  is  a  life  which  each  lives  in 
association  with  a  greater  or  less  number 
of  his  own  kind.  It  is  life  in  the  com¬ 
munity,  the  clan,  the  organization,  the 
nation  or  the  race.  It  is  as  one  of  a 
group  or  community  that  each  one  does 
the  greater  part  of  his  work  and  lives  his 
life.  The  evolutionist  suggests  that  the 
tendency  to  divide  up  into  groups  is  an 
inheritance  which  man  received  from  a 
far  past  when  his  lowly  forbears  lived  in 
droves,  flocks,  and  herds.  However  that 
may,  or  may  not  be,  men  find  within 
them  a  compelling  urge  to  combine  and 
organize.  Of  constitutions  framed  and 
adopted,  of  associations  formed,  of  lodges, 

118 


HUMAN  ORGANIZATIONS  119 


chapters,  benevolent  societies,  churches 
and  sects  there  is  no  end.  With  civiliza¬ 
tion  the  number  grows.  Was  it  the 
thought  of  Jesus  that  these  human  asso¬ 
ciations  should  merge  into  his  kingdom,  as 
the  lights  of  earth  pale  in  the  glory  of 
sunrise?  Would  he  uproot  or  unseat 
them  and  thrust  them  aside  as  hindering 
weeds  or  stones  of  stumbling,  or  would  he 
foster  and  use  them? 

Of  organizations  the  church  is  foremost 
numerically,  and  potentially  it  will  suffer 
as  an  illustration.  It  is  of  unquestioned 
influence  among  the  forward-looking  na¬ 
tions,  and  a  power  among  the  more  back¬ 
ward.  It  has  the  ear  and  in  the  main  the 
confidence  of  a  larger  constituency  than 
any  other  institution.  As  might  perhaps 
have  been  expected,  at  an  early  date  it 
was  rent  in  twain  and  the  two  hemi¬ 
spheres  have  since  been  subdivided  into 
fragments  so  small  as  to  excite  the 
laughter  of  a  gainsaying  world.  Yet  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  tendency  to 
separate  and  organize  around  some  truth, 
fact,  or  form  of  worship  is  the  expression 
of  something  deep  in  human  nature. 


120  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


Even  the  older  religions,  that  of  the 
Buddha  in  India,  or  of  Assyria,  whose 
winged  deities  look  down  upon  us  from 
their  pedestals  in  the  museum,  or  the 
cults  of  Egypt,  were  not  able  to  save 
themselves  from  the  inevitable  tendency 
to  divide  up  into  sects.  Nor  may  the 
prayer  of  Jesus,  that  his  followers  may 
be  one,  be  quoted  as  inhibiting  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  sects.  He  was  there  speaking  of 
his  followers  as  individuals.  He  would 
have  them  one  as  he  was  “one  with  the 
Father.”  That  we  know  was  not  in 
outer  form,  but  in  spirit.  It  might  not 
follow  that  if  they  were  one  in  spirit  they 
would  wish  to  belong  to  the  same  church 
or  be  identical  in  creed.  It  is  possible 
that,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  “he  knew 
what  was  in  man,”  Jesus  never  con¬ 
templated  or  desired  a  complete  oneness 
in  doctrine,  discipline,  or  outward  expres¬ 
sion  of  the  life  of  the  soul.  Yet  he  taught 
meekness,  tranquillity,  harmony.  How 
could  these  abide  in  the  midst  of  number¬ 
less  divisions?  It  is  evident  they  could 
not,  unless  a  centripetal  force  could  make 
itself  known  strong  enough  to  overcome 


HUMAN  ORGANIZATIONS  121 


the  centrifugal  tendency  to  separation  and 
consequent  discord.  The  principle  under¬ 
lying  the  union  of  divergent  parts  and 
varied  functions  is  revealed  in  the  prayer 
of  our  Lord.  It  is  briefly  this.  Oneness 
is  attained  by  merging  objects  of  like 
nature  in  one  of  a  like  nature  though  on 
a  higher  plane.  Thus  the  members  of 
a  family  are  one  in  the  united  head  of 
the  family  and  the  families  become  one  , 
in  the  tribe.  The  individual  members 
of  the  human  race  differing  in  race,  cus¬ 
toms,  laws,  and  speech,  become  one  in 
the  Federal  Head  of  humanity,  the  God- 
Man.  In  form  and  function,  how  varied 
the  hands,  feet,  eyes,  ears,  and  nostrils! 
Paul  saw  a  beautiful  oneness  therein,  not 
by  the  other  members  going  over  and 
forming  one  great  eye  or  hand,  but  by 
each  remaining  itself  and  becoming  one 
in  a  human  body.  The  planets  which 
watch  above  us  in  our  sleeping  hours  are 
each  unlike  the  other  in  size,  in  the  num¬ 
ber  of  their  satellites,  their  diurnal  and 
annual  motions,  and,  as  far  as  we  can 
tell,  in  surface  configuration.  In  their 
midst  is  an  orb,  like  themselves,  yet 


122  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


greater  than  they  all  combined,  not  a 
dead  world,  but  one  which  has  light, 
heat,  life,  and  color  for  itself  and  each 
of  them,  and  holds  each  one  in  leash  in 
its  orbit.  In  this  glorious  orb  of  day  the 
planets  become  one  solar  system. 

Our  Revolutionary  sires  were  divided 
into  colonies  founded  by  peoples  of  di¬ 
vergent  stock,  cherishing  different  tradi¬ 
tions,  customs,  and  aspirations.  In  vain 
they  strove  to  reconcile  their  differences. 
Virginia  would  be  Virginia  and  Massa¬ 
chusetts  none  other  than  Massachusetts. 
It  dawned  upon  them  that  they  could 
never  be  one  by  selecting  one  colony  as 
a  model  and  making  one  great  Maine  or 
New  York.  Instead  they  created  a  na¬ 
tion  called  the  United  States  of  America, 
merging  the  colonies  in  it,  and  thus  be¬ 
came  one.  By  degrees  the  many  lan¬ 
guages  of  the  colonies  became  what  has 
been  facetiously  called  American  English; 
provincialisms  disappeared,  business  in 
various  quarters  was  coordinated,  and 
political  differences  were  adjusted.  By 
emphasizing  their  oneness  they  became  no 
more  colonies,  but  so  completely  a  nation 


HUMAN  ORGANIZATIONS  123 


that  the  average  citizen  cannot  say  if 
each  sovereign  State  has  a  separate  flag. 
He  knows  that  over  all  floats  one  flag. 
He  knows  that  the  tie  that  binds  the 
still  sovereign  States  is  not  a  rope  of  sand. 

These  illustrations  point  the  way  to  the 
only  possible  union  of  the  several  frag¬ 
ments  of  the  church.  To  expect  organic 
union  is  to  expect  that  human  nature 
will  reverse  itself.  Already  what  amounts 
to  a  notice  comes  from  China  that  as 
Christianity  becomes  a  part  of  the  life 
of  the  people  it  will  take  on  an  outward 
form  and  assume  a  government  adapted 
to  the  genius  of  that  race.  India  is 
destined  to  have  a  type  of  Christianity 
purely  Hindoo.  Surprising  readiness  is 
seen  in  many  quarters  to  accept  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  coupled  with  a  decided 
inclination  to  discriminate  between  the 
wine  and  the  bottles  in  which  it  is  brought. 
The  present  divisions  of  the  church  are 
destined  to  abide  because  rooted  in  racial 
traits  and  linked  with  faiths  and  philos¬ 
ophies  inbred  for  ages.  So  the  denom¬ 
inations  are  like  to  survive  and  the  last 
chapter  of  the  world’s  history  may  treat 


124  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


of  groups  and  races  that  make  the  voyage 
of  life  with  a  pronounced  list  toward  Paul 
or  Apollos  or  Cephas.  How,  then,  may 
such  a  measure  of  unity  be  attained  that 
denominations  may  not  fritter  away  their 
strength  in  duplication  of  effort  in  the 
same  field  or  drive  far  hence  the  dove  of 
peace  by  mutual  jealousies?  For  an  answer 
we  point  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It 
too  is  an  organization,  broader  in  its 
scope  than  the  sects,  embracing  the  na¬ 
tions,  the  ages,  and  what  Paul  calls  the 
“heavenlies.”  It  seeks  as  an  objective 
the  same  ennobled  earth  and  redeemed 
humanity  for  which  the  denominations 
strive.  Among  organizations  it  alone  is 
infallible  and  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
any  such  thing.  Human  organizations 
spring  up  in  a  night;  they  have  their  little 
day  and  pass  away.  The  Kingdom  en¬ 
dures  for  aye.  Was  it  not  the  thought  of 
Jesus  that  these  human  organizations 
should  find  their  oneness  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  as  the  colonies  became  one  in 
the  nation?  His  words  are  few  at  this 
point,  for  as  yet  there  were  no  divisions, 
but  does  not  the  emphasis  which  he  placed 


HUMAN  ORGANIZATIONS  125 


on  the  kingdom  of  heaven  lead  to  this 
conclusion?  Decades  now  pass  with  never 
a  difficulty  between  the  several  States. 
Might  not  the  same  heavenly  harmony 
reign  among  the  sects  of  Christendom  if 
they  emphasized  their  oneness  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  as  much  as  the  States 
their  oneness  in  the  nation?  Does  not  the 
realized  unity  of  Christendom  depend  on 
whether  Christians  shall  stress  the  denom¬ 
ination  or  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  To 
speed  that  day  must  not  the  sects  learn 
to  say  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  John 
the  Baptist  of  its  Founder,  “It  must 
increase  but  we  must  decrease”? 


CHAPTER  XVI 


THE  KINGDOM  AND  THE 
KINGDOMS 

“How  fair  his  friendship  and  his  leagues  how  just, 
Whom  ev’ry  nation  courts,  whom  all  religions 
trust/’ — Prior. 

The  nations  also,  what  would  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  of  them?  Would  it 
break  them  in  pieces  as  a  potter’s  vessel 
and  of  the  fragments  form  a  kingdom 
of  mankind?  Would  it  rub  out  national 
lines  and  seek  to  efface  racial  idiosyn¬ 
crasies?  Why  destroy  that  which  the 
God  of  nations,  during  so  many  ages, 
has  been  of  such  great  pains  to  develop? 
In  case  of  success  what  an  uninteresting 
old  world  we  should  have!  Is  mankind, 
then,  to  have  no  more  legacies  such  as 
law,  literature,  or  art  in  its  varied  forms, 
built  up  by  one  race  and  bequeathed  to 
the  world? 

Of  the  nations,  their  capitals,  domains, 
piled-up  wealth,  armies  and  navies,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  covets  nothing.  It 
seeks  no  dominion  over  racial  activities 

126 


THE  KINGDOMS 


127 


or  censorship  over  national  traits  or  cus¬ 
toms.  It  offers  only  to  each  nation,  as 
a  guide  and  an  ideal  in  working  out  its 
destiny,  the  principles  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Our  day  witnesses  the  manifestation  of 
what  has  been  called  a  world-conscious¬ 
ness.  Men  are  speaking  in  terms  of  the 
whole,  as  never  before.  They  are  asking 
as  to  a  proposed  reform,  not  only  is  it 
good  for  us,  but  is  it  good  for  the  world? 
A  spirit  is  abroad  which  suggests  that  if 
a  nation  has  found  anything  good,  it 
share  it  with  the  rest.  The  proposal  to 
build  a  Chinese  wall  about  a  country  in 
our  day  would  be  sure  to  call  forth  the 
suggestion  that  it  be  built  around  the 
whole  race.  We  hear  talk  of  remaking 
the  world,  as  though  the  efforts  of  hu¬ 
manity  thus  far  had  resulted  in  building 
a  city,  like  Rome  in  Nero’s  day,  which 
we,  after  his  example,  must  put  to  the 
torch  and  make  over  again.  The  will  to 
build  anew  will  not  be  seriously  under¬ 
taken  until  an  understanding  is  reached 
as  to  what  kind  of  a  world  men  want. 
In  all  building  the  architect’s  plan  comes 


128  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


first.  There  have  been  numerous  futile 
attempts,  like  that  of  Alexander,  the 
Caesars,  or  modern  instances,  to  unite  all 
nations  under  the  dominion  of  the  strong¬ 
est,  or  to  subordinate  the  nations  to  a 
ruling  spiritual  power,  or  to  make  of  all 
peoples  a  great  world-democracy.  The 
times  in  which  we  live  call  for  a  new  and 
comprehensive  plan  for  a  new  world. 
Gifted  with  abundant  resources  and  sur¬ 
rounded  by  hosts  of  willing  workers,  the 
world  has  been  marking  time  because 
lacking  an  ideal.  The  situation  is  not 
unlike  that  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  the 
erection  of  Saint  Peter’s  Cathedral.  The 
Catholic  world  was  united  in  the  project 
to  erect  the  grandest  edifice  which  the 
world  contained.  Elaborately  engraved 
columns,  beams  of  precious  wood  carved 
and  embellished,  stones  from  old  temples 
and  palaces  of  the  Far  East  were  arriving 
and  skilled  workmen  lined  the  roads 
leading  toward  Rome.  The  material  was 
useless  because  not  made  to  fit  a  designed 
place  and  the  workmen  were  idle  because 
all  was  in  confusion.  There  was  need 
that  one  should  set  forth  a  design  that 


THE  KINGDOMS 


129 


would  visualize  to  the  people  the  enor¬ 
mous  structure  that  they  saw  in  shadows. 
The  advent  of  Michael  Angelo  with  such 
a  plan  and  the  ability  to  inspire  confidence 
in  its  practicability,  put  an  end  to  con¬ 
fusion  and  uncertainty.  A  greater  than 
the  four-souled  Florentine  puts  forth  a 
plan,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  other, 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  world.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  has  no  world  policy, 
knows  no  favored  race  or  class,  is  partial 
to  no  particular  form  of  government  and 
views  with  equal  eye  each  section  of  the 
globe  and  each  branch  of  the  human 
family.  It  offers  certain  well-known  prin¬ 
ciples  as  constituting  together  a  working 
pla#  for  rebuilding  the  temple  of  human¬ 
ity.  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  such 
a  plan  will  be  acceptable  only  to  so-called 
Christian  nations.  Races  classed  as  non- 
Christian  have  been  learning  in  the  hard 
school  of  experience  through  the  ages. 
They  have  sifted  some  things,  weighed 
others,  and  put  still  others  to  the  acid 
test.  The  small  remainder  that  was 
proven  gold  did  not  go  back  into  the  ore- 
bed  with  the  passing  of  those  who  mined 


ISO  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


it,  but  remained  as  part  of  the  wealth  of 
the  nation.  In  volume  this  accumulated 
treasure  is  not  small.  The  astonishing 
thing  is  that  it  is  so  like  to  the  gold  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  This  should  not 
seem  strange,  since  all  truth  is  one  in 
essence  and  origin  however  varied  the 
channels  by  which  it  comes  to  us. 

The  human  family  in  its  old  home  in 
central  Asia  divided  into  two  sections 
which  went  forth  to  try  their  fortunes  in 
the  new  earth.  One  turned  Westward  to 
people  Europe  and  America  and  in  the 
process  to  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  Jeho¬ 
vah  and  of  Jesus  and  the  principles  of 
his  kingdom.  The  other  branch  turned 
to  the  East  and  the  South  to  people 
the  waiting  lands  and  to  learn  in  the 
school  of  experience  lessons  in  self-govern¬ 
ment  and  national  comity.  In  due  time 
East  and  West  meet  to  compare  the 
treasure  they  have  gained.  In  language, 
customs,  and  religion  they  differ  widely. 
In  the  principles  that  should  guide  nations 
in  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  the 
men  of  the  East  have  much  in  common 
with  Jesus  and  his  kingdom.  It  is  suflB- 


THE  KINGDOMS 


131 


cient  ground  for  the  hope  that  the  vision 
seen  by  the  seer  of  Patmos  may  become 
fact  and  in  ideal  and  purpose,  the  king¬ 
doms  of  this  world  may  become  the  king¬ 
doms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN? 

“As  remarkable  is  the  enormous  prominence 
given  to  the  teachings  of  what  He  called  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  and  its  comparative  insignificance 
in  the  procedure  and  teaching  of  the  most  of  the 
Christian  churches.” — WeUs. 

The  first  chapters  of  this  book  were 
devoted  to  the  initial  proclamation  and 
early  days  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
At  that  time  the  Lord’s  land  was  a 
thriving  province  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
its  towns  and  villages  numerous  and  its 
population  considerable.  With  no  agency 
but  the  natural  one  of  the  human  voice 
and  presence,  the  message  of  John  was 
echoing  from  Dan  to  Beer-Sheba  with 
news  that  the  Kingdom  was  coming.  It 
was  the  theme  in  the  market  place  as  men 
met  for  trade,  and  at  the  corner  of  the 
street  where  women  tarried  to  gossip. 
Interest  grew  as  one  told  how  he  had 
heard  John  preach  and  others  that  they 

132 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  133 


had  seen  him  afar  off.  This  meant  prep¬ 
aration  for  the  twelve  and  the  seventy  as 
they  journeyed  from  city  to  city  with  the 
message  of  repentance.  When  to  these 
was  added  the  voice  of  Jesus  teaching 
everywhere  as  he  journeyed,  it  could  truly 
be  said  that  the  Kingdom  filled  the  land 
with  itself.  It  was  as  much  in  evidence 
as  Caesar’s  kingdom,  even  though  the 
latter  had  a  visible  government  with 
magistrates  and  a  Roman  legion  to  repre¬ 
sent  it  and  enforce  its  laws.  The  sea  not 
only  of  waters  but  of  the  years  rolls  be¬ 
tween  us  and  that  distant  shore.  Those 
who  visit  it  find  many  regrettable  changes. 
They  can  barely  identify  the  land  of 
which  they  read  in  the  Gospels,  as  the 
vulgarized  and  commercialized  Holy  Land 
of  to-day.  Slowly  the  footsteps  of  Jesus 
are  being  erased  by  the  erosion  of  the 
years  and  the  tramp  of  careless  pilgrims. 
This  matters  little  providing  the  King¬ 
dom  which  he  founded  abides  and  pros¬ 
pers.  How  fares  it  in  the  Jordan  Valley, 
where  John  first  announced  its  coming, 
and  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  in  the  region 
about  Jerusalem  where  “without  a  parable 


134  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

of  the  kingdom  he  spake  not  unto  the 
people”? 

Is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  foremost 
among  Christian  ideals  and  first  among 
agencies  to  make  vision  a  reality?  It  is 
with  no  little  disappointment  that  we  turn 
from  an  era  when  Christianity  not  only 
taught  but  was  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  to 
times  in  which  it  plays  a  lesser  part. 
This  is  by  no  means  to  deny  that  Jesus 
is  taught  as  truly  and  sought  as  earnestly 
now  as  then.  We  are  not  now  speaking 
of  Christianity  as  a  doctrine  or  an  expe¬ 
rience,  but  of  the  method  of  bringing  it 
to  the  attention  of  the  world.  As  respects 
this,  Jesus  made  much  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven;  the  twentieth  century  does  not. 
The  plow  is  a  symbol  of  civilization  as 
the  bow  and  arrow  of  barbarism.  It 
stands  for  law,  culture,  and  peace.  But 
the  plow  is  also  a  means  by  which  civiliza¬ 
tion  is  attained,  since  its  actual  use  leads 
to  plenty  and  that  to  civilization.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven,  in  like  manner,  is 
both  the  perfect  ideal  of  a  redeemed  earth 
and  a  chosen  instrumentality  by  which  the 
ideal  is  to  be  realized.  Organized  Chris- 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  185 


tianity  accepts  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as 
an  ideal,  but  has  thus  far  made  little  use 
of  it  as  an  agency.  The  failure  has  found 
apologists  and  even  defenders.  Chris¬ 
tianity,  they  tell  us,  is  a  life,  and  life  is 
only  another  name  for  growth  and  change, 
the  sloughing  off  of  the  old  and  the  putting 
on  of  the  new.  For  this  reason  they 
expect  that  Christian  truth  will  require 
frequent  restatement  and  as  to  the  outer 
form  and  furnishings  of  the  temple,  of 
religion,  predict  that  a  complete  house¬ 
cleaning  and  refitting  may  be  expected 
from  time  to  time. 

Yet  life  in  any  of  its  forms  is  confined 
within  the  limiting  walls  of  its  own  genus. 
Within  these  narrow  borders  there  may  be 
endless  changes.  The  attempt  to  break 
over  the  bounds  is  abortive.  The  apple 
tree  has  numberless  species  but  never 
becomes  an  oak.  A  student  of  natural 
history  calls  attention  to  the  many  species 
of  the  genus  elephant.  They  are  large 
or  small.  In  color  they  are  white,  brown 
and  even  black.  One  species  has  a  con¬ 
vex  and  one  a  concave  forehead,  one  has 
small  ears  and  tusks,  another  wide-flapping 


136  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


ears  and  huge  tusks.  Yet  the  life  ele¬ 
phantine  has  through  all  ages  differentiated 
within  narrow  limits.  The  elephant  carved 
on  the  temple  walls  of  the  ancient  Assyr- ' 
ians  is  the  same  as  the  elephant  in  the 
modern  circus  parade.  The  only  per¬ 
ceptible  difference  is  in  the  shape  of  the 
howdah  and  the  color  of  the  trappings. 
Christianity  is  indeed  a  life.  It  belongs 
to  a  genus  all  its  own.  It  varies  in  its 
manifestations  but  only  within  the  bounds 
of  faith,  hope,  and  charity.  The  howdah 
which  it  bears — for  it  must  have  one, 
since  it  is  not  for  ornament  but  for  service 
— may  differ  in  different  lands  and  times, 
but  that  is  about  all.  We  may  not  expect 
great  changes  in  the  form  of  Christianity 
both  on  account  of  the  continuity  of  this 
form  of  life  and  the  persistence  of  human 
nature.  He  who  knows  the  joy  of  sins 
forgiven  in  any  age  or  land  wants  in  some 
way  to  witness  to  the  world  his  gratitude 
and  purpose  to  lead  a  better  life.  If  he 
does  not  say  it  by  water,  as  Jesus  taught, 
he  will  find  some  like  way.  His  conscious 
fellowship  with  the  Comrade  in  White  he 
wishes  to  symbolize  and  visualize.  If  he 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  137 


does  not  do  it  by  a  morsel  of  bread  and 
a  sip  of  wine  at  his  Lord’s  table,  he  will 
find  some  other  like  way.  The  new  life 
leads  to  association  with  his  fellow.  If 
there  be  no  holy  Scriptures  or  Lord’s  Day 
he  will  essay  to  find  or  create  something 
like  them.  In  like  manner  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  a  complement  of  man’s  need, 
with  such  a  nature  as  he  possesses,  and  in 
such  a  world  as  ours.  It  brings  him  into 
a  larger  fellowship  and  opens  up  wider 
horizons.  It  brings  into  bold  relief  the 
gulf  between  the  children  of  fight  and  of 
darkness.  It  makes  more  concrete  the 
quest  of  the  Christian.  It  transfers  the 
arena  of  the  Christian  warfare  from  a 
valley  of  mist  and  shadows  to  a  sun¬ 
bathed  stadium  such  as  Paul  saw  with  its 
cloud  of  witnesses.  It  brightens  and 
heightens  the  sense  of  the  nearness  of  the 
Divine  and  in  particular  of  the  com¬ 
panionship  and  guidance  of  Jesus.  It 
cannot  be  set  aside  without  great  loss. 
By  the  same  token  we  know  it  was  meant 
to  abide.  We  may  listen  with  patience 
to  those  who  predict  the  passing  of  the 
electric  fight  to  the  limbo  of  the  lard- 


138  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


oil  lamp  and  the  tallow  dip,  but  not  to 
those  who  see  a  day  when  we  shall 
have  no  more  need  of  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars. 

The  science  of  pedagogy  points  to  a  like 
conclusion.  It  is  not  concerned  with  the 
discovery  or  the  sifting  of  truth,  but  only 
with  conveying  truths  which  other  sciences 
have  brought  to  light.  Socrates  is  known 
as  one  of  the  greatest  teachers  of  the  past. 
Yet  he  had  no  new  doctrines  and  did  not 
noticeably  add  to  the  sum  of  human 
knowledge.  He  had  a  new  method  of 
teaching  old  truths.  He  is  remembered 
as  the  author  of  the  Socratic  method  of 
teaching  rather  than  for  his  contribution 
to  the  store  of  knowledge.  In  more 
recent  years  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel  be¬ 
came  known  through  their  method  of 
teaching  children.  The  child  mind,  just 
emerging  from  the  animal  stage,  to  which 
everything  is  a  wonder,  fresh  and  recep¬ 
tive,  this  was  the  field  occupied  by  those 
noted  teachers.  They  had  no  new  truth, 
but  only  a  new  method.  In  art  we  read 
of  the  school  of  Giotto,  Titian,  and  Michael 
Angelo.  No  one  of  these  had  discovered 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  139 


new  landscapes  or  trees  or  flowers  or 
types  of  human  excellence  to  put  upon 
the  canvas  or  carve  in  marble,  but  a  new 
way  to  help  men  see  the  beauty  all  about 
them  and  to  express  it  so  that  others 
might  see.  Thus  we  read  of  the  school 
of  Raphael,  or  Rubens,  or  Canova,  or  of 
the  Berlitz  school  in  language.  The 
teaching  of  religious  truth,  whose  aim  is 
to  bring  men  into  obedient  relations  with 
their  Maker,  is  difficult.  Men  are  some¬ 
times  ignorant,  often  prejudiced,  wedded 
to  sinful  ways,  with  spiritual  faculties 
blunted  and  perverted  by  a  sinful  past. 
Nothing  that  Jesus  saw  among  men  so 
astonished  him  as  the  dullness  and  slow¬ 
ness  and  aversion  of  the  heart  of  man. 
Who  has  not  seen  in  a  Christian  assembly 
those  whose  puzzled  look,  half  laugh  and 
half  scorn,  showed  how  far  away  all  these 
things  were  from  them?  To  lead  such  to 
give  heed,  to  be  willing  to  follow  toward 
the  light,  and  finally  to  take  the  torch 
into  their  hands  and  walk  by  its  light, 
called  for  the  wisdom  of  serpents.  Jesus 
had  much  to  teach  the  world.  The  ques¬ 
tion  before  us  is.  Did  he  also  have  a 


140  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


world  method?  What  truth  did  he  put 
first;  what  doctrine  did  he  emphasize  most? 

Concerning  their  deportment,  as  they 
went  forth  as  heralds  of  the  Kingdom, 
Jesus  gave  specific  directions.  They  were 
not  to  tell  men  to  come.  They  were  to  go. 
They  must  not  wait  until  they  arrived 
at  the  place  where  a  congregation  gath¬ 
ered,  but  must  preach  as  they  went. 
They  must  not  take  an  elaborate  outfit. 
One  coat  was  enough,  one  pair  of  shoes, 
one  staff.  The  scrip  or  hand  satchel  was 
to  be  left  at  home,  together  with  the 
purse,  whether  full  or  empty.  They  must 
really  have  and  manifest  a  tender  and 
helpful  pity  toward  suffering  humanity* 
They  must  heal  the  sick  if  they  could, 
at  least  show  that  they  coveted  the  power 
to  do  so;  they  must  cleanse  the  lepers, 
raise  the  dead,  and  cast  out  devils,  if  they 
could — at  least  show  a  spirit  that  would 
do  so  if  it  could.  Entering  a  city  they 
were  to  inquire,  not  for  the  home  of  the 
richest,  but  the  most  worthy.  If  a  wel¬ 
come  were  extended,  there  they  must 
abide.  They  must  not  advertise  them¬ 
selves  as  lovers  of  ease  by  going  from 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  141 


house  to  house  to  find  the  best.  As  to 
food,  they  were  to  eat  what  was  set  be¬ 
fore  them  without  comment,  otherwise 
they  would  appear  more  interested  in 
good  living  than  in  the  souls  of  men.  If 
ill  received  or  chased  away  from  a  city, 
they  must  not  slink  away  as  cowards,  or 
answer  railing  by  railing,  but,  preserving 
their  dignity  as  heralds  of  the  King,  shake 
the  dust  of  the  city  from  their  sandals 
in  solemn  protest. 

Thus  specifically  concerning  externals 
Jesus  instructed  his  heralds.  Accepted  and 
carried  out  in  their  true  spirit  and  intent 
they  have  never  failed  to  give  success  to 
a  herald  of  the  Kingdom  and  are  as 
applicable  to  this  age  as  to  any  other. 
Had  he  no  instructions  concerning  the 
more  vital  and  difficult  task  of  presenting 
the  truth?  Had  Jesus  a  method  con¬ 
cerning  the  evangelization  of  the  world? 
Those  who  have  read  the  preceding  chap¬ 
ters  of  this  book  are  prepared  for  the 
affirmation  that  he  had.  It  is  sufficient 
at  this  time  to  point  to  a  single  feature 
in  that  method.  He  presented  to  men 
specifically  and  definitely  the  kingdom  of 


142  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 

heaven  and  bade  them  strive  to  enter  in.  In 
this  kingdom  they  were  to  live  their  life 
and  do  their  work,  embodying  more  and 
more  the  principles  of  the  Kingdom  in 
themselves  and  yielding  more  and  more 
to  its  life  till  that  high  tide  which  we 
call  death  came  to  drift  each  frail  bark 
out  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth 
to  the  wider  sea  and  kingdom  of  eternity. 
To  abandon  the  method  of  Giotto  in 
painting  or  of  Froebel  in  teaching;  to  set 
aside  the  method  of  the  experienced 
fisherman  in  angling  or  the  skilled  sports¬ 
man  in  hunting,  is  to  set  them  aside,  for 
all  they  have  is  a  method  of  doing  things. 
Jesus  had  truth  to  bring  to  men  so  precious 
that  presented  in  any  way  it  in  the  end 
must  reach  them.  He  had  also  a  chosen 
method.  We  call  him  the  Great  Teacher, 
and  such  he  was.  His  method  was  also 
great.  Should  not  regard  for  one  who 
“spake  as  never  man  spake,”  joined  with 
affection  for  one  who  loved  as  never  man 
loved,  lead  the  world  to  cherish  highly 
and  follow  closely  every  suggestion  he 
made?  “Follow  me  and  I  will  make  you 
fishers  of  men.”  Shall  we  whose  empty 


WAS  JESUS  MISTAKEN?  143 


fish  baskets  betray  our  lack  of  any  method, 
carelessly  set  aside  suggestions  from  such 
a  source?  If  Jesus  was  a  great  teacher, 
can  we  conceive  that  he  could  set  forth  a 
method  that  was  out  of  date  before  it 
had  a  chance  to  be  tried?  That  was  not 
the  thought  of  the  early  evangelists. 

Among  the  followers  of  Jesus  was  one 
who,  on  account  of  his  success  in  winning 
men,  was  called  Philip  the  Evangelist. 
The  title  was  worthily  bestowed,  for  he 
won  his  four  daughters,  then  an  African 
prince,  then  took  the  initiative  in  a  move¬ 
ment  that  stirred  a  Roman  province. 
His  method  was  preaching  “the  things 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  God.”  Paul, 
the  greatest  evangelist  of  these  eighteen 
centuries,  had  a  method.  It  was  that  of 
his  Master.  Standing  among  the  elders 
of  the  church  of  Ephesus,  he  summed 
up  his  labors — “I  went  about  among  you 
preaching  the  kingdom.”  Two  precious 
years,  the  last  probably  of  his  life,  were 
spent  as  a  prisoner  in  Rome.  He  was  not 
idle.  One  notable  day  he  preached,  his 
sermon  continuing  from  morning  to  eve¬ 
ning.  His  biographer  tells  us  that  his 


144  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


theme  was  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
book  of  Acts  closes  with  the  statement 
that  to  the  last  he  was  “preaching  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  teaching  those 
things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.”  It  is  evident  that  in  the  thought 
of  Paul  his  Master  had  not  only  a  message 
but,  like  all  great  teachers,  had  a  method. 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear 
Jesus  eulogized  as  “the  Great  Teacher.” 
May  He  not  be  saying  to  us,  “Why  call 
ye  me  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the  things 
that  I  command  you?”  Methods  of 
evangelism  that  were  successful  a  few  dec¬ 
ades  since  are  waning  in  power.  Could 
we  look  in  at  the  study  window  of  many 
a  faithful  and  well-equipped  pastor  at 
the  hour  of  midnight,  we  should  find  him 
on  his  knees  bewailing  his  want  of  success 
in  leading  men  to  Christ.  May  it  be 
because  we  have  abandoned  in  part  the 
method  of  Jesus?  In  his  parting  address 
at  Bethany  he  said:  “Go  into  all  the 
world,  teaching  all  things  that  I  have 
commanded  you.”  Was  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  part  of  the  “all  things”? 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


THE  KINGDOM  TRIUMPHANT 

“The  world  is  enlarged  for  us,  not  by  new  objects 
but  by  finding  more  affinities  and  potencies  in 
those  we  have.” — Emerson. 

It  has  been  steadily  maintained  in  these 
pages  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has 
come,  that  the  King  is  now  upon  his 
throne,  that  the  nature  of  the  kingdom 
and  its  laws  have  been  fully  declared,  and 
a  proclamation  issued  to  all  peoples,  “Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven/’  That, 
in  a  general  sense,  Christ  lives  and  reigns 
is  conceded.  It  is  quite  as  evident  that- 
he  does  not  reign  fully.  The  world  is 
looking  for  something  more  and  expecting 
something  to  happen.  There  is  a  feeling 
that  the  program  at  present  is  not  com¬ 
plete.  On  many  lips  is  the  question, 
“What  next?”  Is  it  not  evident  that 
what  is  lacking  is  a  more  complete  accept¬ 
ance  of  the  proclamation  of  the  King? 
The  earth  is  waiting,  but  is  it  not  true 
that  Heaven  is  also  waiting?  They  differ 

145 


146  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


in  this,  that  God  has  done  all  that  he 
can  do  and  man  has  not  done  what  he 
could  and  should  do.  There  is  the  further 
difference  that  God  has  plenty  of  time 
in  which  to  wait  and  that  the  men  of  this 
generation  will  soon  be  in  their  graves. 
Men  may  hasten  or  delay  the  full  coming 
of  the  Kingdom;  the  ultimate  triumph  is 
secure.  To  the  generation  in  which  Jesus 
lived  the  offer  was  made.  Some  accepted, 
but  as  a  nation  the  refusal  was  complete. 
Read  in  the  light  of  the  subsequent  his¬ 
tory  of  that  people  how  solemn  the  words 
of  Jesus,  “Ye  shall  not  see  me  from 
henceforth  until  ye  shall  say,  ‘Blessed  is 
he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord’  ” ! 
The  ignominy  and  sorrow  of  centuries  of 
persecution  and  exile  have  not  yet  forced 
that  sentence  from  the  lips  of  that  race. 

That  an  acceptance  of  Jesus  and  his 
kingdom  on  a  scale  that  would  entitle  it 
to  be  called  a  world-movement  may  not 
be  expected,  at  least  in  our  day,  is  un¬ 
founded  assumption.  Men  “think  in 
herds  and  go  mad  in  herds.”  As  distance 
vanishes  and  knowledge  grows  they  incline 
more  and  more  to  act  as  a  whole.  The 


THE  KINGDOM  TRIUMPHANT  147 


close  of  the  World  War  finds  the  nations 
weeping  together  over  their  dead.  They 
are  hungry  together  and  are  asking  one 
another  for  a  crust  of  bread.  They  go 
from  land  to  land  to  borrow  from  those 
who  would  borrow  from  them.  They 
see  factories  idle  and  industries  prostrate 
and  know  that  they  do  not  suffer  alone. 
They  are  hopeless  together.  They  are 
weary  of  government  by  men  and  would 
welcome  one  that  has  in  it  a  touch  of 
the  Divine.  They  are  tired  even  of 
governing  themselves.  It  is  night  in  the 
world,  and  out  of  the  darkness  comes  a 
many-voiced  cry,  “Would  God  it  were 
morning !”  Love  is  a  tie  that  binds,  but 
to  suffer  together  makes  men  one.  In 
such  a  condition  a  petition  like  that  which 
certain  Greeks  made  to  Philip,  saying, 
“We  would  see  Jesus,”  underwritten  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  it  a  world  ap¬ 
peal,  is  by  no  means  an  impossibility.  Such 
a  movement  could  not  be  called  sudden. 
The  great  reformation  under  Luther  was 
not  sudden.  Preparation  for  it  began  cen¬ 
turies  before.  Its  appearance  alone  was 
sudden.  No  ecumenical  conference,  world 


148  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


congress  or  council  will  suffice.  They  have 
their  origin  and  are  shaped  from  without; 
this  must  come  from  within.  It  must  be 
like  the  bursting  forth  of  vegetation  in  the 
spring  which  is  not  settled  at  a  convention 
of  the  chief  forests  and  fields  but  by  a  spon¬ 
taneous  movement  in  the  tiniest  seed  and 
the  topmost  branch. 

The  world  can  emphasize  its  acceptance 
of  the  Kingdom  by  removing  the  obstruc¬ 
tions  in  the  road.  There  are  valleys  to 
be  filled  up,  hills  to  be  leveled  and  stones 
to  be  removed.  They  are  man-made,  and 
men  must  be  the  John  the  Baptist  to 
remove  obstructions  and  prepare  the  way. 
At  the  outset  is  a  ravine  which  in  places 
is  a  veritable  quagmire  where  the  chariot 
wheels  of  Christianity  oft  drove  heavily 
and  sometimes  sank  in  the  mire.  It  is 
the  swamp  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  as 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Gospels  concerning 
the  plan  and  aim  of  Jesus  and  the  future 
of  his  kingdom.  Is  Jesus  now  a  real 
presence  and  King,  committed  to  a  def¬ 
inite  program  of  progress  for  the  human 
race  through  forces  and  by  methods  that 
are  now  at  work?  On  the  other  hand,  is 


THE  KINGDOM  TRIUMPHANT  149 


he  an  absentee  Lord  who  will  return  in 
visible  form  to  reward  the  righteous  and 
punish  the  wicked  and  set  up  his  throne 
and  kingdom  on  the  wreck  of  a  wicked 
world?  A  cleavage  in  the  forces  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  painfully  apparent  at  this  point. 
It  is  not  overstating  the  importance  of 
the  subject  to  affirm  that  the  next  prac¬ 
tical  step  is  to  fill  up  this  piece  of  very 
bad  road.  It  is  a  serious  reflection  on 
Jesus  to  say  that  though  as  a  teacher 
he  never  wandered  far  from  his  theme, 
we  cannot  certainly  know  what  he  in¬ 
tended  to  teach.  It  is  to  make  light  of 
the  promised  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  end  that  we  may  know.  Effort  in 
this  direction  has  been  discouraged  in 
the  interest  of  peace.  Such  a  peace  is 
gained  at  too  dear  a  price.  Early  in  the 
history  of  Christianity  controversy  arose 
concerning  the  person,  and  especially  the 
deity  of  Christ.  There  were  not  wanting 
those  who  discouraged  discussion  because 
it  might  lead  to  schism.  They  would 
replace  argument  about  Christ  by  work  to 
make  him  known.  From  many  quarters 
came  the  reply,  “What  shall  we  say  when 


150  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


the  world  asks,  Ts  this  Jesus  a  great  man 
and  teacher  or  is  he  a  god?’  Shall  we  run 
before  we  have  a  message?”  To  their 
credit,  be  it  said,  they  refused  to  listen 
to  councils  of  peace.  Instead,  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Bereans,  they  turned  to  the 
Scriptures  and  to  God.  It  was  a  battle 
royal,  but  the  outcome  was  the  settle¬ 
ment,  so  far  as  a  question  that  will  not 
allow  a  mathematical  demonstration  can 
be  settled,  of  the  controversy.  We  now 
know  that  the  expansion  of  Christianity 
which  followed  would  not  have  been 
possible  without  that  discussion.  Behold 
a  sign  of  the  times!  The  Christian  world 
is  stirred  as  never  before  concerning  the 
plan  and  aim  of  Jesus.  Hail  the  day! 
Let  those  divisions  of  the  church  that 
congratulate  themselves  that  there  are  no 
discussions  of  this  theme  among  them 
beware  lest  they  boast  of  having  no  part 
in  the  vision  and  work  of  the  age.  Wel¬ 
come,  rather,  a  battle  of  critics,  higher 
and  lower,  of  historians  and  antiquarians, 
of  exegetes  and  linguists;  a  strife  of  lex¬ 
icons  and  grammars,  Hebrew  and  Syriac, 
Greek  and  Latin.  Above  all  welcome  the 


THE  KINGDOM  TRIUMPHANT  151 


sight  of  millions  of  sincere  and  intelligent 
Christians,  void  of  prejudices  and  obses¬ 
sions,  on  their  knees  before  God  and  an 
open  Bible,  pleading  for  the  enlightenment 
of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

In  the  road  by  which  the  Kingdom 
must  come  is  also  a  hill  which  must  be 
leveled  if  the  way  is  prepared.  It  may  well 
be  called  the  Hill  Difficulty  since  a  hill 
suggests  pride  and  this  obstructive  hill 
is  the  pride  men  take  in  their  own  insti¬ 
tutions.  This  easily  leads  to  the  exalta¬ 
tion  of  the  institution.  In  the  mist  of 
laudation  the  organization  gets  between 
men  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
founded. 

Organizations,  begun  in  unselfishness, 
have  had  their  day  and  departed  unre¬ 
gretted,  because  they  did  not  hold  to  the 
original  purpose  of  being  a  means  to  an 
end,  rather  than  an  end  in  themselves. 
They  failed  because  their  raison  d'etre 
was  not  clearly  defined  or  steadily  kept 
in  mind.  An  organization,  like  a  man, 
may  lose  its  soul.  This  it  does  when  the 
hour  comes  that  it  lives  for  itself.  When 
it  lives  to  save  its  own  soul  it  loses  it. 


152  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


and  when  it  loses  its  soul  in  something 
higher  it  saves  it.  The  roadside  along 
which  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  come 
thus  far  is  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of 
organizations  that  lost  their  souls  in  the 
struggle  to  exist  and,  like  human  bodies 
after  the  departure  of  the  spirit,  were 
henceforth  tenanted  by  worms. 

There  are  organizations,  Christian  and 
semi-Christian,  that  can  only  save  their 
own  souls  by  giving  themselves  away  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

There  is  also  a  crooked  place  in  the  road 
that  needs  to  be  straightened.  The  con¬ 
fusion  and  loss  occasioned  by  it  are  great. 
Haply,  it  is  within  the  power  of,  men  to 
straighten  it  out.  How  like  a  twisting 
and  tortuous  road  is  the  comment  which 
the  world  makes  on  the  kingdom  of 
heaven!  It  is  praised,  even  lauded  to  the 
skies.  One  might  suppose  that  there 
were  no  longer  any  unbelievers.  In  almost 
the  same  breath  it  is  said:  “But  the 
principles  of  the  Kingdom  are  Utopian. 
They  are  not  practicable  or  workable  in 
this  world,  at  least  not  in  this  age.  There 
is  the  Golden  Rule,  and  ‘Thou  shalt  love 


THE  KINGDOM  TRIUMPHANT  153 


thy  neighbor  as  thyself.’  That  is  beau¬ 
tiful,  but  in  practice  it  will  not  work. 
‘Lay  not  up  treasures  upon  earth.’  If 
men  did  that,  the  financial  system  of  the 
world  would  collapse.  ‘The  meek  shall 
inherit  the  earth.’  That  sounds  well  but 
really  who  believes  it?  There  is  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  about  war  and  divorce 
and  many  other  things.  As  an  ideal  it 
is  good  enough,  but  it  fails  when  put 
to  the  test.”  So  long  as  the  idea  prevails 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  visionary, 
it  is  hindered.  At  this  point  there  is 
imperative  need  of  road  work.  It  cer¬ 
tainly  can  be  shown  that  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  have  never  been  fully  tried  out, 
and  that  in  the  measure  that  they  have, 
they  have  been  found  to  be  eminently 
practical.  It  is  also  true  that  the  opposite 
principles,  the  right  of  the  strong  to 
rule,  an  utterly  selfish  policy  in  business, 
the  reign  of  secrecy  and  intrigue  among 
nations,  have  been  thoroughly  tried  and 
found  not  to  work  save  in  the  direction 
of  ruin.  Speed  the  day  when  this  crooked 
place  shall  be  made  straight. 

Among  many  stones  to  be  gotten  out 


154  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


of  the  road  is  the  erroneous  idea  that  the 
Kingdom  may  be  won  by  waiting  for  it. 
In  vain  we  wait  for  what  has  already 
come.  What  Heaven  can  do  has  been 
done.  It  remains  for  the  followers  of 
Jesus  to  begin  at  once,  and  steadfastly 
continue,  the  'practice  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven .  A  foremost  question  among  the 
American  people  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War  was  how  to  resume  specie  pay¬ 
ment.  Many  plans  were  suggested.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  swept  them  all 
aside  saying,  “The  only  way  to  resume  is 
to  resume.” 


Ji 


Date  Due 


f) 


